Only Yesterday
by Ardil the Traveller
Summary: Sonic's been in a coma for years, completely unresponsive. Now he's awakened in a ruined world, ruled by Dr. Robotnik, all that he once knew gone or changed almost beyond recognition. Can he bring back yesterday's bright dreams, or is he doomed to fail?
1. Sonic: Race to Darkness

-**Sonic**-

Run. Running. I run effortlessly, speed in itself my ultimate goal. Racing through these strange fields, leaping the fences and ditches easily, I run on and on. A cliff rises to my right, another falls to my left, but this is a wide plain and I'm in the centre of it. I keep running, faster, faster, but though the cliff moves to my right, the clouds move above me, and the ground moves beneath my feet, I'm still in the same place. Faster - faster - I keep on going.

The cliffs, the fields, though they fall away behind me they stay the same, as if I'm on a treadmill. But no treadmill could keep up with this speed. Faster still, driven on by I don't know what, trying to outrun the unmoving land that falls away behind me only to reappear ahead. The fields are brown, the cliffs an almost-purple gray, and I can't see over the edge of the precipice - the plain is too wide. So on I run, under the strangely lifeless blue sky. It looks washed out, too pale.

On, ever further, on and on I run, and though I am moving I run on the spot, ever on, as though this is just the outside of some great turning wheel. Faster and faster - if I run fast enough I will escape from this strange repeated dead land. Everything blurs into indistinct lines of colour: pale blue above and to the left, gray to the right, brown below me. And all lifeless. For some reason I'm finding myself short of breath, but I cannot slow down, or I will never escape. Slowly I become aware of a dull ache throughout my body, but I cannot slow down. Yet I can no longer speed up. I'm on the border between escaping and remaining a prisoner in this strange land, I can sense it. In places the feeling intensifies to pain, and I slow, unable to help myself, feeling myself dropping back from the border of reality, and wherever crossing it would have led me - out of this place. Though I can make out the larger features of the cliff once again, I'm still going fast, only a little way short of the barrier that I came so close to breaking. The pain begins to recede, and I speed up again - but then I hear a voice! A call from behind me, very faint, as if carried by a wind that moves faster than I am.

"Sonic…"

I know the voice, Tails, but why is he calling me? I've almost broken free now.

"Sonic… I need you… come back… Sonic…"

I've almost hit the barrier, Tails! I want to shout at him, but he wouldn't hear me. Somehow I know that in this lifeless place, even sound is dead. The only thing I hear is the wind in my ears - and the call of Tails. The barrier is so close now, I only need to speed up a tiny bit more to break it. But Tails needs me for something. I turn my head, losing speed, to see if I can see him, but I can't. He's too far away to see.

I slow. Once more I become aware of pain, and if I speed up again I know it will recede, be gone by the time I break the barrier. But I can't leave Tails behind. So I slow further, and the pain gets worse. Slower, and it's almost unbearable, but I can still just about run, though I'm no longer going much faster than a walk. I can't go on much further. I may never get out unless I do my best to speed up again now, but I don't think my legs will obey me any more…

I'm stopping. It takes a great effort of will, but I can do it - I have to. Tails needs me.

"Sonic!"

I'm coming, Tails, I say silently. I'm coming…

I stop and turn. The horizon that was behind me seems to be speeding towards me at an incredible rate, though I know I'm standing still. And it's coming towards me without actually going anywhere. I can hardly stand up now. It seems to hit me, and I collapse into blackness. I'm coming, Tails…


	2. Tails: I Need You, Sonic!

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**-Tails-**

Blackness. Oh, my head hurts… I open my eyes. There's something big and grey only a few centimetres from my face. I don't know any more than that, because I can't seem to focus properly. Light is shining into, well, wherever this is, from some kind of opening to my right. It's too bright to look at for long, and my vision is still blurry anyway. It's an odd shape, so not a door or window; it's like a rather squashed triangle. But it leads out into the daylight, I think, so I roll onto my front and turn towards it. The movement sets my head spinning, and I stay still for a few moments to let it calm down before crawling out into the light. It's too bright at first, and by the time my eyes have adapted, my vision seems more or less normal. The first thing I look at is the hole I crawled out of. Two smaller slabs of concrete support a bigger one in what looks like a very unstable arrangement. It's obvious that they were part of a building once, and fell here. Even as I watch, the pile shifts and the top one comes crashing down. If I hadn't got out when I did, I'd probably be dead now. I look about. There's rubble everywhere, and beyond that some half-demolished buildings, then proper ones. Something caused an awful lot of destruction here, but I can't remember much. I sure don't remember what it was. Then a stray thought pulls me upright and on my toes, looking around rapidly. Sonic - he was here, where is he?! Apart from a few bruises and a headache I'm just fine, except that I feel a little shaky, so I spin my tails a bit and fly up a few metres to see if I can spot him atop the rubble. If he's under it like I was, I could search for ages and not find him. And that possibility brings another to my mind, one I really don't want to think about - what if he's buried completely? What if he's… dead?

I shake my head, which just makes the headache worse, and look around. No sign of him, but there are some places that are hidden behind big, sticking-up slabs of concrete. I come down again, landing on the rubble, and walk to the closest. He's not there. He's not at the next, either, and I'm on the verge of panicking. I run for the last, never mind how my head feels, and stop just before I pass it. I shudder with a sudden chill of fear - fear that he's dead, or buried too deep for me to reach. I steel myself and walk past the leaning fragment of building. Several metres away from it, in a place that was hidden from view before, I see something blue, and run towards it. He's half-buried, but it's him. Both he and the surrounding rubble are splashed with red.

"Sonic!" I shout, dropping to my knees next to him. He's still breathing, but only just. I don't dare try to free him in case something slips. His breaths are growing fainter. In desperation I shout again.

"Sonic!"

His breathing's still dying away. I stare at him through a film of tears.

"Sonic! I need you! Come back! Sonic!!!"

Almost imperceptibly, he seems to hear me, the ragged breathing very slowly growing stronger again.

"Sonic!" I cry his name, partly in relief, partly as a call to him to keep coming back.

A shudder runs through his whole body. He whispers "I'm coming, Tails…" but it's so faint I can barely hear it. He's unconscious, I think, now, but it's different. He doesn't seem quite so near death somehow, and while his breathing is still ragged and faint, it isn't fading away again. I cry silently with relief, and I hear the sound of sirens. Hang on, Sonic. You'll be fine.


	3. Police Officer

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**-Police Officer-**

About five hours ago, we were put on full alert. Somehow, someone was claiming to have planted explosives all over a whole block of buildings. We might have taken the risk, but he blew up one charge 'to prove his sincerity'. He said he'd give us five hours to evacuate the whole block before he blew it up. So evacuate we did. I was put on the job of manning the barricades in the middle of the road. Of course we traced his phone signal - it led to a public phone booth, empty by the time we reached it, of course. The really strange thing about this is that he didn't demand anything - not a thing. No money, nothing. It's like he just wanted to blow something up, without anyone getting hurt. I don't understand. I shouldn't think I ever will; I can't understand most of the people I meet. In fact, I have enough problems understanding some of my colleagues sometimes. I look around. The road here is deserted but for this barricade, two others of us, and of course the car we got here in. I check my watch. We have about five minutes. Suddenly, something streaks past me. I instinctively throw myself flat, as I'm expecting an explosion, but then I notice that it was coming from the other way. That and it was blue. There's only one thing I can think of that's blue and travels really fast, or should that be one person - Sonic the Hedgehog, world-famous hero. Some instinct tells me to look up, and sure enough, there's a speck outlined against the sky that must be his friend Tails. They shouldn't be here; I take out the megaphone and shout up.

"TURN BACK! YOU CAN'T GO ANY FURTHER! IT'S DANGEROUS! NO ACCESS!"

An answering shout drifts down to my ears.

"I can't, we've got to get in there before it blows up, and the hostage with it!"

Hostage?! No-one said anything about a hostage. Tails has sped further on; I'll not be able to hear him if he says anything else. Then I get it. I raise the megaphone again, yelling after him. My two companions cover their ears.

"IT'S A TRAP! TURN BACK!" But deep inside I know they won't, even if they do hear me. A lot can happen in five minutes. I just hope they'll get out.

Four minutes.

Three minutes.

Two minutes. The others have ducked behind cover. I do the same. We can't leave, though, in case anyone tries to come through, not that that's too likely. Still, out here we should be well out of the blast radius.

One minute. I hope they've left by some other road. I stare up to the sky and whisper a wish for luck.

Thirty seconds. I'm very afraid. The palms of my hands are slippery on my radio.

Fifteen seconds. Still no sign of them. I hope they left through another road.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

A tremendous boom shatters the air about me. I feel a tremor through the ground, see a light round the edge of this shelter. It goes as quickly as it came, and I emerge. The suspect block, as well as several around it, is destroyed. The buildings on the edge of the destruction zone are in bad shape. HQ judged our positions nicely; we're just inside the unharmed zone. The ambulances were positioned a bit further away in case of a miscalculation, but I hear their sirens coming now. I hope there was no-one left in there to get hurt.

An ambulance pulls up at our barrier and I let it through. Oh, how I hope that there was nobody in there. Please, let it be so. Let it be so.


	4. Tails: Come Back, Sonic

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**-Tails-**

I sit in a stiff chair that's too high up for me - I can't touch the floor. But most chairs are too high up for me, and I don't care if this one's uncomfortable. It's right next to Sonic, which is all that counts. He's in a bed next to me, wired up to some kind of machine. He looks strange, different somehow. I know it's crazy, but he somehow seems smaller. I guess it's because he's out cold. Sonic's got enough personality to make him seem taller than he really is. I don't think I've ever seen him look like this, helpless. He's never helpless. But right now anyone could do anything to him and he wouldn't even notice. It's scary.

I can hear a couple of doctors talking quietly. They may think I can't make out what they're saying, but they forget I have more acute hearing than they do.

"…unresponsive… totally."

"Patients… come round… time…"

"…or not."

I jump out of the chair and almost fall, I'm moving so fast and suddenly. I want to run over there, shout at them. He's my friend! He's Sonic, not just some other patient! But I know it's useless for me to interfere. They know what they're talking about a lot better than I do. Still, it takes a great effort of will to sit back down in my chair.

Time passes. Hours, days. I shout at the doctors at one point and almost get thrown out. Shadow comes by at one point, but he goes again, seeming more than a little ill-at-ease. I can't say I blame him. Amy turns up too - I'd expected that. She starts crying, and has to leave, she says, but makes me promise to let her know if anything happens. She says she'll drop in every week. So far she's come twice. I don't think she can stand looking at Sonic like this for long. And me? I stay here, keeping watch by my friend's side, except when they make me leave. I don't stay away for long. I owe so much to Sonic, and he means so much to me.

I've been here for five weeks now. I don't think Amy wants me to. The doctors don't either. They think it's bad for me. I don't care. Sonic needs me, and there's nothing I can do but be here for him. Amy comes here regularly, every Monday or Wednesday - or both, sometimes. She is worried too, but it still sometimes feels like I'm the only one who cares. I haven't seen Shadow since that one time the first week; goodness knows where he's gone. Off roaming around, forgotten about Sonic already, probably. I know I'm probably being unfair to him, but I don't care anymore. Knuckles doesn't even know anything's happened - how could he, up on that island - but somehow it seems like he ought to know. Like he ought to be here, and he's letting Sonic down by not coming. Ah, I know I'm sounding strange. Amy says I look awful. Maybe I do; I haven't looked, and I don't care either. Sonic… Sonic, come back for us… for me… Sonic…


	5. Amy: We Have to Live

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**-Amy-**

I'm terribly worried about Sonic. It's awful, waiting every day for Tails to call and tell me he's getting better. And I'm worried about Tails too. It's been six weeks now, and he's hardly left Sonic's side except when he has to go at night. He looks terrible. His fur's getting all dirty and unkempt. He doesn't seem to care. He's getting thinner, too, and he doesn't sleep enough. His face was always so cheerful, before… now I sometimes hardly recognise him. Even his tails are a mess, and he always keeps them in good condition so he can fly. I'm going to see them both today, Sonic and Tails.

I always get nervous, waiting to get in. But as I round the corner I see that Tails is waiting for me. I walk up to him and ask him,

"How's Sonic?"

"The same - not that it matters to you! You don't care! None of you! You just leave him here!"

The anger and pain in his voice knocks me back a step.

"Tails, of course I care! What else do you think I'm doing here?"

"Oh yeah, you're coming! Sonic's your hero; what else are you gonna do? But you don't stay! Oh no, it's 'Tails, ring me and tell me when he's okay'! You won't even stay with him!" He's flying, somewhat erratically, wobbling from side to side as he hovers. His head's just a little bit higher than mine, so I have to look up at him slightly.

"Tails, I can't stay here all this time! We all have other things we have to do - I can't help Sonic, and nor can you! There's nothing either of us can do, and I don't like it any more than you do, but we have to go on with our lives!" How dare he accuse me of not caring?!

Tails drifts to the ground and starts to cry. I awkwardly put my arms around him and he just cries on my shoulder. Some time later, he stops and looks up.

"You're right, Amy… I can't do anything." This time, there's a kind of desolate acceptance behind his words, and I'm not sure I didn't prefer having him mad at me.

"Come on, Tails." I take his arm and lead him away; he comes passively. "We have to keep living. I'm sure he doesn't want you sitting around just wasting away like this. And who knows - maybe he'll wake up, or we'll find something that can help." I feel a lot older than Tails all of a sudden, and a lot older than I did a few weeks ago. And I'm finding it hard not to refer to Sonic in the past tense… for it's like he's dead.

We have to keep living. It's what Sonic would want.


	6. Sonic: Breaking Free

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**-Sonic-**

Very very slowly, I begin to become aware of things again. All around me is a blue-green liquid, as if I am under the ocean, but it's not like water. I just float here for a little while, then - I don't really know how - I begin to rise. It's like being in the ocean, and it gets lighter as I get higher. I look up, almost dazzled by the light shining down above me. Suddenly, I come to a halt. A cold, hard barrier, like ice, blocks my way. There are long-frozen cracks in it, as if it was broken once, and then reformed. I suddenly feel a jolt of pain, and realise I can't breathe, though I didn't seem to need to before. I bang on the icy barrier, at the point where it was already weakened, but my efforts have no effect. If I can only break through, I might find air, somewhere. An idea comes to me. It may not work, and I may not have time to pull it off, but it's the only chance I have. I flip myself around and dive, pushing off the ice. I go down faster and faster, and the liquid gets darker and darker. I stop quite suddenly, exactly when I decide to - this is no liquid, nothing I've ever seen before, but I seem to be able to do as I please. I'm almost out of air when I somehow push myself upwards, spinning at the same time, getting faster and faster…

Just when I think I'm not going to make it, when I'm just about to die for lack of air, I hit the barrier - and break through, shattering it into a thousand scintillating pieces. Air, and a blinding light. I close my eyes, and concentrate on breathing…

After a time, I begin paying attention to my new surroundings. While I don't open my eyes, I listen hard. For once, there is anything but silence. A thousand small noises catch my ear, the hum of a computer, a whirring fan somewhere, footsteps, my own breathing - and somebody else's, too. I feel strange, but this is more real than the ocean or the plains I remember being in before. Slowly, I open my eyes a fraction. The light is almost too bright, and I nearly close them again, but force myself to look around. Someone in a thick coat and some kind of helmet is standing, looking at some kind of readouts on a screen. Whoever it is, its back - his? hers? - is turned to me. I don't recognise what I can see of this place at all.

"Where is this?" My voice sounds oddly loud to my ears, though in fact it's quieter than usual if anything, and it sounds a little strange, too, like I haven't used it for a long time. The figure whirls round at once, staring at me with an expression of surprise. That face is almost familiar, but there's no way it could be Tails - it's older, and the figure is a little taller than he is - yet I catch a glimpse of two tails as he turns. Does Tails have some relations he's never told me about?

"Sonic?!" The voice is like Tails', too, but older. I repeat my question, then ask

"Who are you?"

His answer shocks me.

"I'm Tails, Sonic! Don't you remember me?"

"Tails?" I say disbelievingly. No way! It can't be him! And yet…

"Yeah, it's me, Sonic." I stare at him. How…?

"Oh, yeah, I forgot… I guess I must have changed a bit, huh?" Tails - if it really is him - pulls off the helmet and drops it on a chair with the coat. He looks so familiar and yet so strange.

"What do you mean, you must have changed a bit?!"

"Well," he begins hesitantly, "it's like this… Do you remember going to rescue that hostage?" I'm sitting up now, on the edge of this bed, and I nod, watching him. "The blast from the explosions destroyed most of the nearby buildings. It half-buried you and knocked me out. When I recovered I went looking for you, but you were out cold… and you've been that way for several years now."

I stare at him for a few moments. "No way! This isn't funny, you know!" But it feels uncomfortably true. I stand up, and feel dizzy and strangely weak, like I haven't stood up in a long time. Tails obviously notices.

"We've done what we could, but you're nowhere near as fit as you used to be, I'm afraid." He sounds strange, like he can hardly believe what's going on. To tell the truth, neither can I.

"Tails… what's going on? So where is this, anyway?"

He sits down atop the discarded jacket.

"This is the hideout of the last free people in the world."

And I stare at him in shock and horror.


	7. Tails: Last Free People

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**-Tails-**

I stare at the little screen, willing it to say anything but what it is saying. I've hacked into the main computer network again - I can't stay on it for long, I'll get noticed, so I have to go in every now and then for short periods of time. The screen obstinately refuses to say any different, and I yell into the radio, to anyone who can hear me

"Brace yourselves!"

Our leader cries "What?" and I know what she means.

"Missiles incoming, estimated impact twenty-five seconds! Within five hundred!" That means, within 500 metres - this has happened before, to some of our previous hideouts, so we all know what I'm talking about.

"Brace! No evac! Three within five hundred, twenty seconds!" I yell again into our patchy radio system - no time to evacuate, just find someplace a little safer than anywhere else and get ready for the impact of three missiles hitting within 500 metres of us in about 20 seconds time. Following my own advice, I dive from my chair into a recessed alcove, built for this purpose, counting down in my head as I do so.

Eyes screwed shut, I wait for the inevitable, hoping that this place won't get too badly damaged. One impact shakes the room, then a second, and parts of the ceiling fall in - the computer's gone; I hear it - and finally a third. Then, silence. I smell dust and smoke, and uncurl from my tight little ball to look around. The ceiling's mostly down, but it was quite tough, and there is still a sort of passage through the rubble to the door. The passages above, the ones that are still in use, are made of a stronger and newer material than the old reinforced concrete of our roof, and I can see their metal floors in places, buckled a little but not broken. I worm my way through the wreckage and into the corridor, which hasn't fared any better, but because of the stronger metal construction above it, still has space to crawl through. Beyond this corridor, the other rooms seem relatively intact, though I notice the lights flickering badly - the lights! That must mean the power's fluctuating, and if the power's fluctuating -

"Sonic!" I yell, and race off. I've brought him along with us everywhere we've been, still irrationally hoping that someday he'll wake up again. That hope is part of what keeps me going, through all this hard and ceaseless fighting. Collapsing into bed exhausted for a too-short sleep, the only thing that gets me up on my feet again sometimes is the thought of Sonic. Maybe I'll find a way to wake him up today. Maybe tomorrow. I never have, though I've got pretty good at making medical machines. I dash into his room and run to the wall console.

Power interrupted to life support system. Backup failed.

My back to Sonic, I feverishly press buttons, but I can't re-route it, not in time - he should already be dead now, but I won't face it, I keep on futilely trying things. Then I hear a voice - a voice from behind me, a voice I've almost forgotten.

"Where is this?"

I whirl around, surprised, amazed, disbelieving.

"Sonic?!"

"Where is this? Who are you?"

I don't believe it! He's awake! Then his second question sinks in.

"I'm Tails, Sonic! Don't you remember me?" Shadow's told me how he lost large parts of his memory; I just hope this isn't the same thing; I hope Sonic will remember really soon.

"Tails?" he says. At least he does seem to know the name.

"Yeah, it's me, Sonic." Then I get it - he's expecting me to look the way I was before all this happened. I'm not quite sure what to say, even, it's been so long since we've spoken to each other. I must sound stupid, I think even as I speak.

"Oh yeah, I forgot… I guess I must have changed a bit, huh?" I take off my thick jacket and my helmet, dropping them on the chair so he can see me better.

"What do you mean, you must have changed a bit?!" Of course - he doesn't know what's happened, how much time's passed.

"Well," I begin hesitantly, "it's like this… Do you remember going to rescue that hostage?" He's sitting up now, on the edge of his bed, and he nods, watching me. "The blast from the explosions destroyed most of the nearby buildings. It half-buried you and knocked me out. When I recovered I went looking for you, but you were out cold… and you've been that way for several years now."

He stares at me for a few moments. "No way! This isn't funny, you know!" Then he stands, and sways a little, half closing his eyes like he's suddenly dizzy.

"We've done what we could, but you're nowhere near as fit as you used to be, I'm afraid." I sound strange, like I can hardly believe what's going on - I can't, in fact, I keep thinking I'm dreaming and going to wake up soon.

"Tails… what's going on? So where is this, anyway?" he asks. I don't blame him. I absent-mindedly push the helmet to the floor and sit down atop the discarded jacket.

"This is the hideout of the last free people in the world."

Sonic's mouth drops open and his eyes widen in an expression of shock, horror, and disbelief. I quickly start talking again.

"Well, not quite… there are more of us, in other places, but not many. We're the main group, and the best fighters. Oh, Sonic, I'm so glad you're finally awake!" I can't help saying that. I feel really strange, like everything's gonna be okay now, like a huge weight has suddenly lifted from my mind. Even though I know that Sonic's waking up won't make things right, won't put the world back the way it used to be, I feel as if it will.


	8. Amy: Leading the Resistance

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**-Amy-**

I'm frowning at the onscreen map, tapping at it with the special pen to zoom in, when Tails' voice crackles over the radio system.

"Brace yourselves!"

I shout back into the old microphone next to me,

"What?"

"Missiles incoming, estimated impact twenty-five seconds! Within five hundred!"

Within five hundred metres?! That's too close! We could be killed! Of course, that's the point of missiles, but I'd thought we'd be safe here for another week at least. If I picked wrong and this place isn't well enough reinforced, it'll be the last mistake I'll ever make.

"Brace! No evac! Three within five hundred, twenty seconds!" Tails' voice has an oddly harsh quality to it over the radio, he's not too loud but it still hurts your ears, just like some of the announcements on the train system used to, back when we still had a train system. I spin my chair to look at the pile of blankets where Shadow is lying, so totally exhausted that he hasn't even woken up, but I decide to leave him be. There's nothing either of us can do; this room is the strongest in our little hideout, and if it goes then all the others will. The countdown continues in my head; I've come to be rather good at counting seconds these days. I get down on the floor and wait.

Three impacts shake the room. Dust falls from the ceiling, my chair falls over, and I hear the sound of the computer going down. With any luck, Tails' special circuit breakers will have stopped it from short-circuiting, but I'm not certain. When the shaking's stopped and the dust has mostly settled, I get up off the floor and take a look around. Shadow still hasn't woken up; the poor guy was totally exhausted when he staggered in earlier. For a moment I feel almost protective of him, but I step on that firmly. I don't - I can't - allow myself to feel anything special for anyone, not even Shadow. If I do, and then he dies, it'll cloud my judgement too much, and that could get us all killed. I can't afford that. But sometimes… I get lonely, and I wish… ah, what's the use? Firmly I tell myself, we _will_ win, but it's a mantra that's wearing awfully thin these days.

I look into the dusty haze of the corridor, where parts of the ceiling have come down, then turn back to my computer. I pick up my chair, but don't bother to sit down, and try to turn on the computer. It comes on all right, but then a message appears on the screen.

Warning: Power fluctuations below buffer safety levels. Do you wish to proceed?

In other words, those missiles damaged our power supply. For the first time, I realise that the lights are flickering, and mutter something rude under my breath. I need to get Tails here, need to tell him what we're going to do next. I need him to get the power back so I can decide on the best place to move to - if anyone can get it back, it's him - so I turn to the microphone, hoping it's still working. After tapping at it a couple of times, sometimes hearing a distorted sound, sometimes not, I notice a sound behind me. Footsteps, two pairs of feet. I turn. Tails, and Sonic - what?! I look back again, thinking I must have made a mistake, but it really is him! I just stare for a few seconds, and he stares back. At first I can't figure out why, then I realise it - the last time he saw me, I looked very different. He's the first to speak, disbelief in his voice.

"Amy?!"

I gawp at him for a few seconds longer before reality begins to sink in.

"S-Sonic?!" He's still a little taller than I, but not as much as he used to be, once upon a time - back when I still had that stupid crush on him and followed him everywhere! At least it's not possible for me to go much pinker than I already am. He looks at me strangely, and I wonder what he's thinking. How much I've changed? Perhaps. Because I have changed an awful lot since the last time he saw me. Ever since he… went… I've had to change since then, first to take care of Tails, then to take care of us all - I've had to change a lot. So I look at him, looking at me, and I wonder just what he sees, what he thinks.


	9. Sonic: Dark Future

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**-Sonic-**

For the first few seconds after seeing her, all I can do is stare. I hardly recognised her at first, but now I'm seeing more and more similarities to the girl I once knew. Or thought I knew… sort of. She's very different now; I don't know if I ever knew her all that well any more. I guess I was mostly occupied with other things… or maybe I just never paid her much attention; maybe I never looked past her annoying crush on me. But still, she's obviously changed. That hardened toughness, as if there were a second skin right under her real one, made of steel. She's not the soft little Amy Rose I remember, she's something very different now. She's changed with age, too, doesn't look so childish any more - like Tails, she's very different, and it's disconcerting. Still, Tails was easier to recognise.

"Amy?!" I realise I must sound daft, but it's too late now. At least she seems equally surprised.

"S-Sonic?!"

Her spikes are longer than before, I think, perhaps a little darker. Her eyes hold both sorrow and a steely resolve, and somewhere along the line her features have changed, just a little, so she's not cute any more, she's… I guess I should say beautiful, but it's hard to apply that to the Amy I remember.

"What - how - what are - Tails, how…" She sounds like she thinks she's dreaming.

"Well, to tell the truth, Amy, I'm not sure," Tails answers, a little nervously almost, and I hear echoes of his old self in his voice. "After the impact, I rushed in to have a look at Sonic, especially when I noticed the power was fluctuating. He should have been dead, but instead he was awake!" That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. I remember the sudden pain, the inability to breathe, in that strange place, the ocean-that-wasn't, with the previously-broken ice at the surface.

"But, Tails, I mean, why? Why now? We've done so much, tried everything you could think of - and that's a lot - and all this time, he's never so much as stirred!"

If I don't listen closely, she almost sounds afraid. I notice myself swaying slightly and sit on a nearby chair - presumably Amy's - before they spot it, too. I think Tails has seen, but he doesn't say anything. He seems to be thinking about what Amy's just said.

"Maybe… no, that's not right…" He's just thinking aloud, I realise, so she can listen. "Maybe… You know how Sonic's always so… alive… you know… how he never gives up… Sonic always holds on to life… remember that time, on the ARK, when we all thought he was dead… when things get desperate… he always finds a way… maybe… maybe that's what brought him back. See, for a long time now… he hasn't had to wake up… he's healed, slowly, and nothing's ever happened… we were so careful… but when things get hard… Sonic never gives up! So you see, he came back!"

"Are you saying that, all this time, he's never woken up because he never had a good enough reason?!" Now she sounds almost… angry. I don't quite understand.

"Sort of. See, I think that, maybe, he's been… trapped… in his mind. But when you're about to die, you fight back with everything you've got, unless you've given up, and Sonic never gives up!"

"Yes… when you're about to die, you fight with everything you've got, often more than you thought you really had. I understand that." For a moment her voice sounds completely out of place, her tone almost impossible for who I thought she was - she talks like she knows very well what she's talking about, like she's felt it herself. Where did little Amy learn that? She's changed a lot, I think again. Tails turns to me.

"Sonic? Did you… feel anything, before you woke up, I mean?" I don't know quite what he wants, slowly start to tell him about the strange dream, if that's what it was.

After a while, Tails exclaims "So I was right! Sonic's been trapped on the wrong side of consciousness, and never had the impetus to try and break free 'til now!"

Amy nods. I think she understands exactly what he means. It's strange, Tails not talking to me, talking to her instead. He always spoke to me, almost always, even when he was supposed to be telling someone else sometimes. When I was there and he'd figured something out, it was usually me he'd talk to, not even realising he was shutting the others - when there were others - out. I suppose with me gone, he turned to Amy for support… and she helped him put his life back together. And after that, I guess he stayed with her. Tails needs companionship. He can go it alone, and he does pretty well, but he still needs a friend, and I wasn't there to be it. For the first time, I know what it's like to be on the outside. I'm not sure I like it.


	10. Shadow: A Chance to Rest

_**-Shadow-**_

I slowly drift up from the darkness of deep, dreamless sleep. Something insistently prods at my side. I resist the urge to mutter 'go away' and reluctantly crack my eyes open. I'm still exhausted; I can't have been asleep for too long. The fuzzy blur of the ceiling resolves itself into an expanse of grey framing an excited-looking orange-furred face. Tails' blue eyes are brighter than I've seen them for a long time.

"This... this had better be important..." I mutter, still half asleep.

"Oh, Shadow, it's more than important! This is wonderful! Come on, wake up! Just wait 'til you see what's happened!"

I raise myself on my elbows and slowly turn my head towards him. Behind him, I see two others - Amy, who I don't even give a second glance; I expect her to be there, and - no, I can't be seeing straight! It can't be Sonic! But... it looks like him. He looks as if he's heard too much recently to take it all in at once.

"Sonic...?"

"Shadow! What's been happening? I mean, Amy and Tails have said a little, but not much."

I scramble to my feet and stare at him, tiredness forgotten. After all this time, Sonic's awake! I can hardly believe my eyes; I'm not certain I'm not dreaming. Sonic stares at me, eyes widening in surprise. I look down, but nothing seems to be unusual, except that I'm standing in a pile of blankets.

"Shadow - what happened?!"

I try to figure out what he's talking about, but what with my sleep-dulled mind, it takes a few moments. He was expecting to see me as I was a long time ago, before all of this... back before Robotnik took over, before... I look down at myself again, really noticing things for the first time in a while. My attention is stopped and held at my left elbow, where the armour sheathing begins. Dark gray plating with bronze-coloured edging, coming to a point at the outside of the elbow to protect the joint but still allow the arm to bend. Maybe a third of the way down the forearm it stops being armour plating, becomes an actual artificial arm. I lost part of mine a long time ago now, and Tails built this replacement for me. It's wired up to my nerves so I can operate it just like a real hand, so I couldn't take it off even if I wanted to. I look back to Sonic.

"It was several years ago... I was fighting Robotnik... I misjudged my timing..." My eyes are half-closed as I remember. If I hadn't made that fatal mistake, maybe the world would be very different now... maybe Robotnik would never have won. I realise that Sonic's noticed my pause, is waiting for me to speak.

"I... I'll tell you later, Sonic." I haven't really thought about that for a long time... after I recovered, it was just endless fighting, until at the end of most days I collapsed into bed too exhausted to think. I don't think I've not been tired for a long time, too long. Every day blurs into a perpetual haze of exhaustion, every night awakening me just enough to get through another day...

"Shadow?" Sonic looks concerned. I realise I must have seemed to drift off into a world of my own, and perhaps I did.

"I'm all right, Sonic. Just tired." I think that's true. I'm pretty sure that's all it is. Thoughts and vision blurred by weariness, I look at him. He looks concerned, and overwhelmed, and a little sad.

"Get some rest, Shadow. If anything happens, I'll take care of it."

I nod, only vaguely noticing that the others are still watching. Rest... if only it would last...


	11. Chess: Is Everyone Okay?

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**-Chess-**

After the ground's stopped shaking and the ceiling's decided to stay where it belongs after all, at least in places, I crawl out from under my table. Sheesh! That… that Eggman! Why can't he just let us alone for a while? How come he found us so fast, anyway? I notice the one remaining light bulb flicker. So. The power's down, or at least badly iffy. I reckon I'd better go find the others, see if they're okay.

Extricating myself from under the table, I head off down the corridor, only pausing to brush some dust off my shoulder. I like being clean.

First, I turn into the room of Trick and Gaze, our human companions. Gaze is an awkward, nervous boy who always seems untidy, and only really looks at home when given binoculars or a telescope. His flyaway brown hair always makes me want to brush it down. I sort of take care of him; he's only a kid, after all. His sister, Trick, is several years older than him - three and a half, in fact - and she's only fifteen. She's very inventive, but no good whatsoever with her hands, so she just comes up with ideas. She might be clumsy, but she can aim well enough, which is fine by me.

I reach the door, jammed shut by rubble piled against it, and think really rude thoughts in the direction of Robotnik. Those two should be fine in there, of course, but Gaze especially will get worried if we don't get him out soon. I sigh. Looks like there's nothing else for it; I'm going to have to try and move this stuff myself. Oh, I'm not weak or anything, I just don't like doing it. Reluctantly, I get down on my knees and start pulling at the wreckage, raising dust. After a while, the door is clear enough for me to try opening it, so I dust off my clothing - a pink sleeveless top and denim shorts - blow some more off my black, fingerless gloves, and pull hard. Slowly, the door swings open, enough so I can see Trick, sitting in the middle of the floor with one arm protectively around Gaze. Both of them look up at me.

"Chess!" Gaze exclaims in relief. I'm called that because of my black-and-white patterning, not because I'm really any good at the game! I flick my tail at him with a beckoning motion, come on. They get up, and Trick asks a question.

"Chess, how are the others? Do you know?"

My claws involuntarily extend for a moment, not because I'm mad at her, though. I'm mad at Robotnik, for all of this, everything that's happened.

"Not yet, Trick. You two are the first ones I came to check on."

Trick and Gaze both smile at me, then their faces slide back into seriousness, making them look a few years older. They scramble out of the door and I let it go, the weight of rubble pushing it back into place. In places the corridor's ceiling has fallen in; Trick has to crawl over these parts. All I have to do is duck. There are advantages to being comparatively small. Note that I say comparatively; I'm not that short, a tiny bit taller than Shadow, maybe, which makes me the fourth tallest of us. I lead the way to our little armoury/workshop, where I hope I'll find Blaze and Crossfire.

Blaze is a tough young squirrel, red-furred and blue-eyed. He can climb even faster than I can. His intense blue stare is strange, almost impossible to hold for long, because it's almost like he sees right into your mind. Crossfire, on the other hand… Crossfire is our weapons expert. If it's got any way of shooting something, Crossfire can, and probably will, use it. He can be almost scary at times; I have to remember that his anger is aimed at Robotnik, not me. He's got an awful temper; we've almost come to blows once or twice. Nobody knows if he has another name, except maybe for Blaze - they're brothers, though they don't look too much alike. Crossfire is taller, with slate-gray fur and deep blue eyes that nobody looks into for long - years of rage, pain, and hate reflect from those eyes - and gives the impression of being ready to lash out at anyone or anything. Far too many silver-grey streaks in his fur show where he's been scarred in battle - oddly enough, Blaze hasn't a single mark on him, for all our years of fighting.

Right, here's the door. It's open. I motion to Gaze to stay back, in case I see something I'd rather he didn't, but although a lot of stuff has fallen from its racks and tables, there's no real damage. Behind an upturned table, Blaze is sitting, absently rubbing a black-gloved hand along one of the guns. He looks up and turns that strange blue-eyed gaze on me; I look away.

"Chess. I knew you'd turn up. Crossfire's back here too. He got hit on the head, but he'll be fine in a little while."

I don't question him. Blaze knows what he's talking about. His voice sounds, as ever, the same way his eyes look, totally innocent, like he's never so much as thought about fighting, about dying, regardless of all we've been through, and yet, at the same time, incredibly experienced in the ways of the world. Too experienced for a youngster like him, even in these times of constant battle. Blaze is probably one of the strangest people I've ever met, but I'm used to him, so I don't think about it much any more.

Well. I guess we'd better go find Amy and Shadow next, then maybe look for Tails if he hasn't already reached them. Here goes!


	12. Blaze: Seeing What Is

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**-Blaze-**

I look up at the sound of footsteps, though in fact I knew someone was coming already. I act like I don't know some of what I know because it makes them nervous. It's Chess; I can't see behind her, but I know Trick and Gaze are there. I look into her eyes for a few moments before she looks away. Not many people hold my gaze for long. I suppose there must be something strange about my eyes. Her own green-gold eyes are large and slanted, brushed at the tops by her long fringe. She looks relieved.

"Chess." I acknowledge her presence. I can't help sounding like I expected her, unless I really try hard. "I knew you'd turn up. Crossfire's back here too. He got hit on the head, but he'll be fine in a little while." In the shaking when the missiles hit, some of his stuff fell off its rack and hit him. I'd just moved out of the way, or I'd have been hit, too. I don't quite know how I do that, but it's always been my way, to sidestep an instant before something hits the spot where I was standing. I don't dodge; I don't ever have to. Dangerous things and I just never exist in the same place at the same time.

My brother Crossfire is the exact opposite. In battles, he gives the most damage, but he also gets hit worst. Sometimes it's like he's in a storm of shots, most of them blazing out from one or another of his weapons, but others aiming unerringly for him. Crossfire doesn't talk much, and when he does he argues with everyone but me, over things as trivial as who knocked into who, but together we're a perfect team. Most people I've met - not too many - think that's odd, because we're almost exact opposites, but there you have it. In truth, I think we're more opposites than anyone knows. Crossfire knows how to hate, has a cold, diamond-hard anger burning in him all the time. I don't. I can't hate. It's not in my makeup, I simply couldn't do it even if I wanted to. I can fight, and do, though.

Trick looks in, past Chess, eyebrows raised questioningly, her expression saying, how's Crossfire? and I know that's what she's going to say.

"He's fine." I get up, putting down the piece of dully polished metal I've been absently holding. Then I bend down again, pick up Crossfire. For all his size - apart from Trick and Gaze, he's the tallest of us - he's pretty light, and I can carry him easily. Even asleep or unconscious, his features never really relax, the cold flame of his anger showing through. Crossfire never really looks peaceful. I'm told I look open and unguarded, but not quite vulnerable, and I'll have to take Trick's word for it, seeing as I can't see myself when I'm asleep. Chess is going to go and find Amy next; I get up and follow her.

When we reach the control room, Amy and Tails are standing, looking at - Sonic. He's awake, and he's here. He's looking at Shadow, who's standing against the wall, eyes half-closed. Sonic looks concerned, sad, a little overwhelmed by everything he must have just been told. I sit my brother against the wall, not exactly gently, but in the right way so he won't so much as have a stiff neck when he wakes up - which he will soon. I don't know how I know that, I just do. Like everything else I know.

"Sonic," I say. He turns and looks at me. "The others call me Blaze. This is my brother, Crossfire." Sonic stares into my eyes, holding my gaze. I want to look away, but something tells me not to - and I always trust my instincts. After a while, he looks away, to Tails.

"Tails, what happened to the Chaos Emeralds? Do you have them?"

"No, except for one. But that's not important anyway. You wouldn't be able to go Super, I'm afraid."

"Why in the world not, Tails?"

"Because Eggman destroyed one of them - that's what Shadow was trying to stop him from doing. We had all of the others, then, but Shadow was holding them, so we lost them."

Sonic's mouth drops slightly open. Tails nods. "It was the blue one - not the pale blue, the other one. Now we only have the green. I think Robotnik has the rest."

I interrupt their discussion. Somehow, I feel Sonic needs time to think.

"Sonic, you should take Shadow someplace safe, where he can rest. Your old bed is probably the best place." Sonic nods and does as I say, but there's an odd look in his eyes. A little like the one the others sometimes get when I tell them something. Supporting Shadow, who's practically asleep on his feet, Sonic leaves the room.


	13. Sonic: What Happened to Yesterday?

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**-Sonic-**

Poor Shadow... he sounds so tired... and he looks it, too. The only thing in those red eyes right now is a great weariness. I'm about to turn to Tails, ask him if there's anywhere else I can take Shadow, when somebody to my left, who I hadn't noticed before, speaks.

"Sonic." I turn and look at the speaker. He's a young squirrel, red-furred and blue-eyed. Behind him are several others - two young human children, a black-and-white cat in pink top and blue shorts, and, sitting against the wall, a tall, sturdy grey squirrel. Silvery scar traces run through his fur, the regrown fur paler than the rest. He looks unconscious; someone must have carried him here. But none of these are the most surprising thing - the young squirrel didn't sound at all surprised to see me.

"The others call me Blaze. This is my brother, Crossfire." He indicates the unconscious squirrel. I'm not sure I would have guessed they were brothers if he hadn't told me; they look very different. And yet... something about the eyes says otherwise, though I can't even see the other's eyes. Those eyes... where have I seen that colour before? I look hard at them. The eyes don't seem to match the young, innocent face - those eyes look as if they have seen several lifetimes, but if anything come through stronger than before, unharmed even by the terrible fighting that must have been going on here for years. Ancient eyes... of an oddly familiar shade... in that young, innocent face. He holds my gaze unwaveringly until I suddenly turn away, to Tails.

"Tails, what happened to the Chaos Emeralds? Do you have them?"

"No, except for one," Tails replies. "But that's not important anyway. You wouldn't be able to go Super, I'm afraid."

"Why in the world not, Tails?" I don't get it. Even if they're not fully charged, that can be remedied easily enough. And if I go to Super, I'll cut through Eggman and his robots like so much melting butter, finishing this terrible time for good.

"Because Eggman destroyed one of them - that's what Shadow was trying to stop him from doing. We had all of the others, then, but Shadow was holding them, so we lost them."

What?! Destroy a Chaos Emerald?! I didn't think that was possible! I glance to Shadow, who gives the tiniest fraction of a nod in affirmation.

"It was the blue one - not the pale blue, the other one. Now we only have the green. I think Robotnik has the rest," Tails continues. I can hardly believe it. The blue Emerald... gone? It doesn't seem too long ago since I last held it, felt its power. How could Robotnik destroy something as powerful as a Chaos Emerald? Well, if I can't go Super, I can certainly still do a lot of other stuff. But... where did all that power go? I feel like I've seen it recently - but that's crazy. I've been asleep for years, after all; I'm just remembering the last time I saw it. It feels like all that business with the hostage happened only yesterday.

"Sonic, you should take Shadow someplace safe, where he can rest. Your old bed is probably the best place." Blaze's voice sounds odd; while it's only a suggestion, it has a tone to it that says, this is the way that things will be. But it's an obviously sensible thing to do. I nod, slip my arm under Shadow's, and together we slowly walk off, back the way I think I came. Shadow's practically asleep on his feet; it seems all he can do to keep himself upright. I'm still feeling a bit unsteady myself.

Together, we make it to the room I woke up in. Shadow lies down on the bed, an expression of gratitude flitting across his face as his eyes close completely. He almost whispers something, something I can only just make out.

"Take care of them, Sonic..."

For some reason, I almost want to cry.

"Just rest, Shadow."

But he's already asleep. I blink twice, fast. What could have done this to Shadow? How terrible have these years I've missed been? Why couldn't I have been there to help them? All these years... all these years have passed... it's so hard to believe.

Yesterday... whatever happened to yesterday?


	14. Crossfire: This Hopeless Fight

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**-Crossfire-**

A sound across the peaceful night silence. I say silence. Traffic noise, city sounds, the usual, but for us, silence, being used to it. Then, a noise - and not a noise, at the same time. Felt, not heard, at the deepest level of sensing. My little brother straightens, tenses; he hears it too. His eyes widen slightly, then a new look settles across his face. Seconds suddenly drag out, time... space... distorted... his motion one step sideways jerky, lasting forever, as though I watch a slow-motion replay through several metres of water, clouded, and something will happen, but I can't _reach_, and my eyes taking a thousand years to open wider and wider in shock and horror because I _know_, too, without knowing, what he sees, but I can't _move_... And a rumble that would be a swift bang, but time is dragging out and a second is forever and the sound is stretched, stretched, and the shaking underfoot is slow, slow, but reactions are slow, so slow, and I'm off-balance falling through treacle to the floor... And I see, see-feel-hear the cracks spreading so-so-slowly across the wall, wallpaper tearing, impossibly slow, and then suddenly everything snaps back into normal time, speed now, fast, and the last thing I see through the dust and the falling ceiling pieces and pain is little little brother with big open eyes staring and knowing, and the dust clouds up and the ceiling falls and the pain takes me into darkness.

Darkness...

Light. Eyes flash open, quick, where am I? Looking all around, time... memory. Memory comes flooding back, and I know who I am, and where I am. Little brother looking into my eyes, reflecting mine I suppose, but you can't tell the difference. They're the same colour, same shade, but something different behind them to mine, but you can't see that in reflection so well. I'm taller, he's taller, since then. He extends a hand so seriously, I don't need it, but it's part of the way he is. I take it and get up. We've aged since then, but I'm not sure he's changed, ever since he hauled me from the rubble of our old house and just sat down to wait 'til I woke up. I asked him, what would you have done if I hadn't woken up? And he said, oh, but you were going to wake up, so I didn't have to. I said, didn't have to what? He said, I didn't have to know that. He said, I knew you were going to wake up now. I asked, how? He just shrugged. It was something he knew, was all. I looked into his face and his somehow different eyes, and saw no sadness, and I shouted, do you know our _parents_ are in there somewhere?! And he answered, yes. Well, I said, don't you _care_?! And he said... he said, I know that it happened. I know that we won't see them again. But I know that they _were_. And I stared at him.

Since then, I've learnt it was Robotnik who caused that explosion that brought our house down, Robotnik who killed them. But he didn't even notice - he didn't even care. Since then I've fought him with all I have and all I am. And everywhere I go, little brother comes too, always knowing everything before it happens, never hating, forgiving everything like he knows all the secrets of life. I should get furious with him for that, but I don't, because we somehow exactly complement each other. He always steps aside just before something happens in the point where he stood, not like he's avoiding things, just like he knows that he and it won't be in the same place at the same time. Ever. That's how he comes out of everything unscathed, while I've got enough scars for the both of us.

I look around. Looks like everybody's here but for Shadow, 'here' being the entrance to the 'control room', where Amy works with the maps and plans our tactics. But everyone seems excited, and I can feel that something's happened... something besides, of course, getting attacked by missiles. And part of me _knows_, but I can't quite see what it is...

My little brother, who they call Blaze now, speaks up. "Sonic's awake."

Of course. When he says it, it's like I knew already, like I just needed to be reminded.

"Sonic, awake, huh. So he's going to fight Robotnik with us. Lot of good _that_'ll do. I can just see all those robots keeling over 'cause he waved at them. Sure, and he'll walk up to that big wall, and it's going to split down the middle, and then he'll just walk up to Robotnik, who'll fizzle away in a cloud of smoke? Fat chance. Fact is, nothing's gonna change around here, except that someday we're going to die. Maybe we'll get another robot each, or ten, or twenty, but then that's it, 'cause everybody runs outta luck sooner or later, and the robots only have to get lucky once, but we gotta be lucky every time!"

It looks like Gaze is about to cry. Even Tails, who looked so happy before I started talking, is hanging his head.

"Face facts. Life's tough, and we've got no chance, and there's no way to change it."

Gaze sniffs. "M-maybe, if we had the Chaos Emeralds..."

I whirl on him. "Yeah, right. The Chaos Emeralds. Well, maybe they would have given us a chance once, but in case you hadn't noticed, Mr. Head-in-the-clouds, one of 'em's been destroyed! What use are six Emeralds when you need seven?! That's assuming we could even get them in the first place!" I turn and walk off, back down the corridor. Life isn't fair, and ends soon, and all we can hope for is to take as many of them as we can with us. I learned that a long time ago.


	15. Tails: My Shards of Hope

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**-Tails-**

"What use are six Emeralds when you need seven?! That's assuming we could even get them in the first place!" Crossfire turns and walks off down the corridor, blue eyes hard. Even from the back his tall form gives a sense of barely-controlled anger. I hang my head and stare at the floor, earlier euphoric mood completely washed away now. He's right... that's what I really don't want to admit to myself. Crossfire's actually right. Blaze looks at me, and I look up. His face is the only one now that doesn't look as if its owner's hopes have been crushed.

"I think you should go and talk to Sonic, Tails. A mind that hasn't watched the changes is the one most likely to see them." Then he turns, face as young-old-innocent-experienced-knowing-understanding as ever, and follows his brother. My face twists into a frown as I ponder his words. What does he mean? Why would Sonic be more likely to see changes than we, who've lived through them, would? It doesn't seem to make much sense. I look over at Amy, whose iron-hard composure is already reasserting itself.

"Yes, go and talk to Sonic for a while. Check on Shadow, too, while you're there. I'll work out where we're going to hide next - Chess, Trick, Gaze, come here and help me get the computer sorted out." I know what she's doing. She's distracting them - and me - from thinking about Crossfire's words. If we get depressed, we'll start wondering if there's really any point to all this... and then we'll give in. We have to have our hopes, unlikely as they are, otherwise there won't be any reason for us to carry on anymore. I nod to her, vision just a little blurry, and leave, catching sight of Gaze's eyes as I go. They sparkle with unshed tears that he's trying hard to keep under control, but Amy's request has turned his thoughts from it somewhat. I look down and walk off, fast, before they get too good a look at my own expression.

By the time I've reached Sonic, clambering over rubble piles in places, I'm feeling a lot more cheerful, if only because the moving has taken my mind off things a little. That, and my puzzling over Blaze's statement. How could Sonic see more than I of the changes he never saw? Still, it's generally wise to listen to Blaze, we've found. He always seems to know more than it ought to be possible for him to.

I look in the door, seeing Shadow asleep in the bed, Sonic perched on its edge, apparently thinking. His face is very serious, and yet there's still a strange element to it, as if he can't quite believe this isn't some dream he's going to wake up from soon enough. I come in quietly and sit on the chair, awkwardly fiddling with the sleeve of the jacket I left here earlier. Sonic looks up.

"Tails? Can you find the other Chaos Emeralds?"

I look at him with just a little surprise, Crossfire's words flashing through my memory. "Sonic, there are only six of them now, remember?"

He looks at me as if he'd never have expected to hear me say that. "Tails, that's not important. Our having them means that Robotnik doesn't, means that they can't be used against us, even if there's nothing else we can do with them!" Suddenly his eyes go wide, and he half-gasps, a sudden and almost silent intake of breath. I jump up, nearly knocking the chair over, and quickly cover the few steps it takes to reach his side. As I get there, he shakes his head, green eyes now more than a little worried.

"What is it, Sonic?"

"Nothing... but for a moment... I almost thought I saw..." His voice trails off, leaving me wondering what in the world is going on. I remember his recount of his dreams, and wonder... It couldn't be possible, could it? The dreams he remembers having... they were like his mind was trying to make sense of what was happening to him. Trapped in his own subconscious... but breaking the icy barrier to escape? He couldn't have shattered some kind of barrier between his conscious mind and his subconscious, could he? And if he had... does that mean that things are leaking through? That he's going mad? No! I won't let myself think that!

But what if he is? Then what will we do? I've never hoped that I could be wrong quite so much as I do now. You've gotta be okay, Sonic... you've got to.


	16. Sonic: Lost Is Not Destroyed

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**-Sonic-**

I run through the forest at high speeds, flashing through the trees. Ahead a metallic form hovers on the edge of vision, always behind a tree, only ever allowing me glimpses of it, tantalisingly ahead on the edge of view. It's a race of a kind, but the stakes are much higher than a simple prize...

It's a flash of memory, if only real in part. Things didn't quite happen like that… With a start, I realise my elusive opponent still hangs in the air behind Tails. There just for a second before vanishing, not disappearing, but suddenly it's as if there was never anything there. Tails rushes to my side, concerned; I must have looked surprised, more than surprised, perhaps.

"What is it, Sonic?"

"Nothing... but for a moment... I almost thought I saw..." I trail off there, uncertain of just what is going on. I couldn't have seen what I thought I did; he died, was destroyed, a long time ago. Though once, during that business with Chaos, I saw his rebuilt form hanging motionless, suspended in a tube in Robotnik's tower, there was no life there - and then, the tower was destroyed, and the lifeless form too, I suppose. Besides, if he had been here, then I'd have known. Why would my memory flash that up before me, after all this time? And why would I actually see anything? A memory is all he is now.

Tails still looks concerned, worried, thinking, too, and his conclusion doesn't appear to have been very reassuring. I try and reassure him.

"Don't worry about me, Tails. I'm probably just feeling the effects of... however long it's been." To tell the truth, I hope I'm right... and Tails only looks like he believes me because he wants to. I shake my head and look across at Shadow, lying there. He looks so tired... and sort of, I don't know... maybe defenceless, smaller than he normally seems. I've never seen him like this, except maybe once, when he was recovering after the fight on the ARK. I feel... I don't know, some kind of kinship with him. I'm not all that much good at saying what I feel, or even just putting it into words; it's not something I generally do. But right now I want Shadow to be okay, a lot more than almost anything else.

After a while, Tails gets up.

"So, Sonic... what're we gonna do?"

"Well... can you find those Emeralds?"

"Shadow has one, but I don't think I can do any better than a very crude detector with the equipment we have. It could probably tell us roughly which direction to go, but that's about it."

"That'll be fine, just so long as we can find them." I have an idea that the deep blue Emerald might still be around, and I think I know where to find it... but I'm not sure if I'm right, or how to get it even if I am. Whatever, it's still best that we find the others.

Tails nods and starts heading out the door, turning in the doorway to tell me something.

"I'd better go see what plans Amy's come up with, now that we've been discovered again. I'll try and get that detector together as soon as I can." Then he goes, leaving me with several things to think about. Am I right about the Emerald, and if not, what? How long is Shadow going to stay like this? And why is my memory flashing up these old images, from a time and place long gone now? Why am I remembering things I'd thought long-buried? Why...?


	17. Shadow: Awakening Refreshed

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**-Shadow-**

I awaken very slowly, savouring the peace between sleep and wakefulness. How long has it been since I could do that…? Too long, is all I know. Too long… As I slowly drift back into the realm of reality, I feel myself lying on something soft, softer than I've felt in a while. I move my gloved hand slightly, feeling the surface around it. I'm lying in a bed, but the only proper bed we have is Sonic's… That's right, Sonic's awake… that's why I've been able, just this once, to sleep without having to wake until I'm ready. Slowly, I open my eyes, looking about me. A room with decorated lampshade, flowery paper on the walls - a room in one of the few houses that survived the destruction of the old city, one of the smaller ones that Robotnik built over rather than through. Sonic sits on the edge of the bed, looking down at me.

"Shadow?" His voice contains both worry and relief. I sit up, swing my feet to the floor. I feel better than I have in a long time - better, I think, than I have since all this began. But this room isn't the one I was in before… isn't any of the ones in our old hideout. So we must have moved. I wonder how long I've slept for, decide to ask Sonic.

"I'm fine, Sonic - I feel much better now. How long have I been asleep?" I push the covers aside with my mechanical left hand. While I feel pressure, it's not sensitive enough to feel any but quite rough textures, and the feelings of heat and cold are denied me. I tap a couple of the fingers against the thumb, the slight metallic tapping the only sound produced by the movement. Sonic glances to the source of the noise before replying.

"About two days, now. As you can tell, the others decided to move anyway, and I figured it'd be best to let you sleep."

A voice calls from the doorway.

"Too right you did - and you'd barely let anyone else near him, either, would you?" It's Chess. She steps into the room and grins at Sonic, who looks slightly embarrassed. "Now, Sonic, while everything's quiet here, why don't you take advantage of it and get Shadow to fill you in on everything you've missed? I have to go help Tails with something; he's whizzing about tinkering so much it looks like he needs a third hand!" With that she leaves. She sounds more cheerful than any of us have in a long time. It's as if Sonic's awakening has brought new hope to us all.

Sonic has evidently decided to do as she says, because he asks,

"Shadow… what happened? How did Robotnik get so powerful?" He glances to my arm again. I think it disturbs him more than he wants to admit, even to himself. I close my eyes for a moment, remembering… then I open them again. I'll tell Sonic everything I can.


	18. Shadow: Past Failure, Future Hope

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**-Shadow's Memories-**

I stood by Sonic's bed, looking down at him. I didn't really know what to say or what to do. It looked so strange, seeing him like that… I couldn't shake the strange feeling that there was something wrong, that this was all impossible, a bad dream. Because surely it couldn't be Sonic lying there, looking so… so lifeless. I stood there for a while, silent, then I left. I don't know… I think I just wanted to run away from the reality that was facing me. I didn't want to have to accept losing someone I'd begun to regard as a friend. Whatever the reason, when I left, I ignited my jets and raced into the sky. Perhaps I was trying to leave my thoughts behind, to avoid facing the truth. Jetting through the air at supersonic speeds, I soon lost track of where I was.

Perhaps it was best that I ran, because as I slowed down and looked below me, I saw a half-built metallic structure, swarming with activity. Probably Robotnik. I couldn't think of anyone else that it was likely to be. Certainly not GUN; they'd lost a lot of credibility since… since I escaped, since they ended up chasing the wrong hedgehog, since a single treasure hunter - Rouge - had got into their base and stolen their heavily-guarded Chaos Emeralds. And they'd lost a lot of resources since… since the Prison Island base had been destroyed. Most of the force there had been robots, but I still wonder how many people had perished. Maria… I wish… I wish I'd known…

I tried to think of something else as I cut my jets and let myself fall, snapping them back on in the instant before I hit the ground. Then I looked up, to the structure that was being built. It was definitely Robotnik; I recognised his style. As I watched, a small group of robots began coming closer. I ducked behind cover, not wanting to be seen… yet. One of them spoke to the others in that flat, metallic voice that they all had.

"Orders have been received. Emerald Gather Program is to be initialised immediately. Priority One. By the command of Master Robotnik."

Then they went on in silence. Robots have no use for conversation. I wondered what he was planning this time, and I had a horrible feeling that he'd been behind Sonic's coma, was going to use this opportunity to strike against the world. Well, one thing was certain - he was up to no good, and if he wanted the Emeralds, I'd have to get them first.

So that's what I did. He must have been planning this for months, maybe ever since his last attempt at world domination failed, because no matter how far or how fast I had to go to find those Emeralds, his robots were always right behind me. Several weeks passed, though, before I even found the first one; after that I decided I'd have to go and get Tails' help, even if he didn't want to leave Sonic. I had to have his Emerald detector.

To my surprise, when I made it back to the city, Tails was staying with Amy. He seemed strange, withdrawn, but he agreed to come with me readily enough. I was a lot more surprised, though, when Amy insisted on coming. In any case, we took Tails' plane and Emerald detector, and went off to find the Emeralds.

The only one we didn't have, the dark blue one, was in Robotnik's clutches by the time we found out about it. In the weeks we'd spent finding those Emeralds and keeping them out of his hands, he'd already built or re-activated several bases - bases that would give him a clear line of fire to almost anywhere. They were the beginnings of his web that would cover the planet…

When we found out he had the deep blue Emerald, we knew we had to get it off him. We knew where he was, too, because Tails had intercepted some radio communications. Now that I think back on it, I believe those messages were designed to lure us in - he had all this planned, from the beginning… But then, I didn't think of that. None of us did. I Chaos Controlled us into his inner rooms, and found him waiting in some kind of big machine. I think it was then that I began to suspect it had all been a trap. I remember he gestured to the blue Emerald where it lay behind a thick screen of greenish glass.

"At last! I have defeated all of you! With Sonic gone, I have been able to complete my greatest invention yet - one, Shadow, that will destroy the very source of your power!" He seemed so totally confident, but even I didn't realise what he had planned.

"Give up, Robotnik!" Tails shouted. "We've beaten your robots, we can beat you!" But he was worried; he looked to Amy for reassurance. I don't think she could give him any, but I wasn't paying attention.

"I'm getting tired of this, Robotnik. Why don't you just give in now?" I was trying to stall, to either figure out what he'd planned or just to lower his guard so I could attack him.

"Give up? What, when I'm so close to winning? I don't think you quite understand who has the upper hand this time, Shadow!" I didn't even wait for him to finish speaking, and he never even saw me coming - but when I hit his machine's armour I fell back! I leaped to my feet immediately, but I could tell I hadn't made so much as a dent!

"Only the power of a Chaos Emerald can break this armour, Shadow! Certainly you wouldn't be able to! And now, Shadow, I'm going to destroy you, Sonic, and all your pathetic little friends once and for all!" Inside his cockpit I saw him pressing buttons, and wondered what he'd meant by the earlier reference to the source of my power. But there was no time for thinking! I spun round in a microsecond, throwing myself into a spin as I did, heading directly for the glass that protected the Emerald. As I collided with the barrier it shattered, but it was tougher than I'd thought, and I missed grabbing the Emerald by several centimetres. Almost before I landed, laser beams began to fire from Robotnik's machine. I dodged and tried to reach the Emerald, but every time I tried another beam would fire in front of me until it was all I could do to avoid them.

The fight continued for a while, I suppose, but I don't really remember much of what happened. When I finally managed to approach the Emerald, flung a hand out to grab it, he was yelling

"Now to destroy this Emerald you seem to want so much!" I knew then that everything depended on my catching it. Time seemed to slow down as my hand reached the Chaos Emerald, as my fingers closed around it, as - as a brilliant blue-white beam of pure energy lanced out from Robotnik's vehicle, striking the Emerald… and my arm. I might have cried out; I don't know. The natural energy that always protected me was blasted away under that terrible power, and in an instant my hand was gone. It was only a moment before the pain hit me, a moment in which I saw the Emerald suspended in the beam, glowing fiercer and brighter, but the light was uneven, as if cracks were beginning to cross its flawless surface. Then I fell, and as I fell, there was a huge explosion that flung me across the room, through where the wall had once been, and away. The last thing I felt was the energy of the Emerald streaming past me in all directions, and I knew it was irretrievably broken, power scattered…

Tails and Amy saved my life. They brought me back from the brink of death, and when I was recovered enough to handle it, Tails gave me this robotic arm. They'd found some people left over from the destruction caused in the city by the shockwave of the explosion - Chess, Trick and Gaze, and of course Blaze and Crossfire - and formed a small resistance group. Since then one day blurs into another, pain and exhaustion almost all I feel… until now. Until Sonic awoke, a friend I thought I'd never see again, a figure from the past undefeated by Robotnik… until Sonic awoke, a figure from yesterday. Maybe together we can defeat Robotnik and build a new tomorrow from yesterday's undulled hopes… maybe…


	19. Sonic: So Much On My Mind

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**-Sonic-**

For a while after Shadow's finished recounting his recollections, I just stare at him. I knew things were bad, but not that it had been like this! Why couldn't I have been there? I could have done something, stopped Eggman, and none of this would have happened! I want to tell Shadow I'm sorry, but I don't know what to say. It wouldn't do any good, I suppose - I wasn't there when they needed me, and… and this is what's become of it. I look back to Shadow, see that mechanical arm - and just for a second I'm looking into a very different pair of red eyes, in a very different face…

Shocked, I jerk back, and as I do I see Shadow again, as though nothing else had ever been there, expression suddenly concerned.

"Sonic, what is it?"

I look down, hand to my head. "I… I don't know." It's true, I don't know. I suppose I could have told him what I saw, but… No. That's in my past, and in the past is where it belongs. Shadow stands, the old vitality, the energy I remember so well, now back in his face. He looks almost like his old self again.

"Sonic, we need you in the maps room." Amy's announcement over the little walkie-talkie in the corner cuts through my thoughts. She continues, saying "Shadow, you too. We need to finalise our plans."

I glance at Shadow, and with an expression that must be similar to my own, he heads for the door. We leave together, me in the lead because he doesn't know his way around here yet - couldn't know, he's been asleep for all the time we've been here, after all. I want to talk to him, but something holds me back. Perhaps it's that so much time has passed since what I remember, perhaps it's the knowledge that all this might not have happened if I had been there. And so we walk in an uncomfortable silence, for Shadow doesn't appear to have anything to say to me - unless it's just that he's not sure what to say, either. But no, that's silly. Why wouldn't he be?

I'm relieved when we get to the maps room. Tails is there, sitting on the floor, tinkering with something; he looks up and acknowledges me with a sort of half-nod before returning his attention to his work. Tails has done that many a time before, absorbed in what he's doing, but for some reason it feels different, as if he's not paying attention because he doesn't think I'm worth it any more… I laugh inwardly at myself and try to throw such doubts aside, yet I can't still a small flicker of worry that he, that they, will blame me for not being there. I look about the little room; everybody's here now. Blaze has an attentive expression. Crossfire leans against the wall, looking as if he thinks this meeting is a total waste of time. He seems so pessimistic, acts as if he thinks we're going to lose no matter what we do. Chess, Trick, and Gaze all look at Amy as she begins to speak.

"Right. You know Sonic's got a plan to try and defeat Robotnik, and it involves getting all the Chaos Emeralds - and he thinks the lost one still exists."

I hear a low mutter from Crossfire, something like "Stupid…" but ignore it. Amy continues as though she didn't hear him.

"Until Tails finishes work on his device for detecting the Emeralds, we're going to have to lay low for a while. All planned raids are cancelled; we'll stay out of the way as much as we can. However, Tails doesn't have all the parts he needs, and we still need to repair some of our other equipment, too. Blaze, Crossfire, I need you two to go find what we need. Sonic, Shadow, you stay here. We can't afford to let Robotnik know Sonic's awake, and we'll be needing you both at full strength. Trick and Gaze, you'll keep a guard on the hideout, turn and turn about; if you get tired, let me know and I can take over. Tails, of course, is carrying on with the mechanical work, and Chess will be helping him. Anything else?"

Most of the others shake their heads and leave, until only Blaze, Crossfire, Shadow, and I are left. Blaze speaks up first.

"We'll search over here. There's plenty of junk just lying around." He points to a map on the screen behind Amy. She turns to look, seeing his projected search location, worryingly close to a heavily-reinforced base.

"All right. But be careful, and try not to get noticed. That base could have robots down on you before you even know about them."

"No, I'd know if they were going to see us." Blaze's eyes seem to hold that truth deep within their young-ancient depths. His strange gaze looks as though he can see through the concrete, through the metal, glass, and plastic, maybe even through time itself. He sounds so certain that it doesn't occur to anyone to question him until he and Crossfire are already gone. I turn to Amy.

"So what am I going to do while all this is going on?" I ask. She seems to have everything planned, but I want to do something to help. After everything that's happened because I wasn't there, I have to do something!

"You'll be recovering your old strength. We both know you still aren't as strong as you used to be. Shadow will go with you - there are some disused old tunnels around, ones even Robotnik doesn't patrol. Work together, and take care."

She hands me a printout, a little map showing the entrance to the tunnels. They were streets once, before Eggman built over the top of them. I want to go right now, just so I can be doing something, anything, so I don't have to think too much. All of this… No, I won't think like that. It's in the past now, it doesn't matter any more. There's nothing I can do about it. But that doesn't make it any better…


	20. Blaze: Inexplicable Course

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**-Blaze-**

Picking my way through the debris of fallen buildings that surrounds Robotnik's base, isolated in lonely might, a tall tower in the centre of a devastated ruin that he hasn't yet covered with his buildings, I see the robot guards on patrol some blocks away. Robotnik intended this place to be a monument to his overwhelming victory, that's why he left the ruins, I see that as well. The robots will not bother us; right now they are going in different directions, away from us. I don't have to think about what will happen if they don't, because I know that that is what will happen as things stand. If things change, I will know what will come, but unless that happens I won't have to know those things, and so I don't.

Beside me, my brother walks also. He carries a small gun in one hand, another on his belt, a third, larger, one slung across his back. My own is at rest in its holster, unused, as we're not here to get into fights this time. Trusting in what I know, he follows my cues - trusting? No, Crossfire trusts no-one and nothing, not even himself. He just knows that what I see really is there, like I do. Knowing, then, that what I do is what is best, he follows my cues, steps where I do, stops when I do, hides when I hide, almost before I do it myself. His combat sense pulls him towards the robots, but he follows me instead because we aren't here to fight, we're here to gather parts.

I've found several items that I know we'll want, even when I'm not sure what they are, when I feel… something… strange. It's something I've never felt before, like an attraction pulling me from my planned course. Following its irresistible pull will curve me around, directly to Robotnik's base, but the attraction is something built-in; I couldn't fight it even if I wanted to. Crossfire feels it too. He almost knows what I do normally, but he blocks it from himself, as he must if we are to survive. Yet he feels this. It's gentle, but insistent, a minor tug on my awareness that neither of us can ignore.

Together, silently, we curve away from our planned course. I already know the way that will take us through the patrols without being noticed, up to a point. After that, it will become impossible, because Crossfire will make a sound that will be detected. That strains the limits of my perception, but all of the paths I could know lead to the same kind of event, and this one feels the best.

Combat and Crossfire are attractive, like magnets; sooner or later one pulls the other to it. So when he knocks a loose bit of rubble and it falls with a rattle, I already know where the robot's shot will be, and I'm no longer there. Crossfire shoots, once; he doesn't need more. He's the most accurate shot of any of us; he hardly ever misses anything. I, of course, miss nothing, but that's a different way of fighting, because I know where the robot will be next, and where my shot will be, so I just make sure they'll be in the same place at the same time. I don't think I've ever targeted something like others do in my entire life. There's a lot of things I've done differently to others - even walking. I know where best to put my feet, where to stand, it's not instinct that makes me the quietest or the best, it's this ability that nobody else seems to share, of knowing what will come next. All this takes less than a second to pass through my mind, as the robot falls to the ground. Its clatter is unavoidable, because it was too far away for me to catch it. Crossfire and I spin about and run, him following my lead, and together we reach the foot of Robotnik's giant metal tower.

"You want us to go in?! Little brother, your senses have really fouled us up this time! You've finally lost it!" His tone is a scathing whisper, but it's just the way he is now - he can't help it any more than I can help being what I am. So I just shrug and look up, and I know where there's a way in.


	21. Robotnik: Impossible Defeat

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**-Robotnik-**

Everything is going as planned. My last strike must surely have destroyed that feeble bunch of fighters who call themselves a resistance! Pah! Their ability to fight began dying when I killed Sonic - he's as good as dead, after all - and died completely when I destroyed that Chaos Emerald! Now all they have left is their pathetic struggles! Even Shadow, so assuredly confident as he was when we first met, even though he can allegedly match Sonic, he too has been defeated and will soon be destroyed! If, of course, they are not all dead already. For I am Emperor Robotnik now, ruler of the world and its terrified denizens! What little resistance any have had was utterly useless! Now my domain stretches across the entire planet, and -

beep beep beep beep…

Argh! What is making that racket?! The motorised chair rolls across to the appropriate control panel before I've even finished the thought. Quick and efficient, a thousand times more so than anything my opponents have created, my system is alerting me to - What?! One of my bases? Something is trying to get past my defences to where I have stored one of the Chaos Emeralds! My robots have a reaction time of only a few milliseconds, but somehow, whatever this thing is, it's destroying them without seeming to get at all damaged! How can this be?!

I call up the camera views, some of which are useless, blank with static. One shows a view down a hallway, in which stand - two squirrels?! So, I didn't destroy them after all! No matter. Attempting this is undoubted suicide! I will take control of the robots myself and destroy these invaders!

I lower the headset over my eyes. Virtual reality gives me the instant impression that I am now the robot. Picking up on my brainwaves, if I desire the robot to move then it will. These are my greatest creation yet, capable of anything I can conceive! The Hyper Metal Sonic robot was useless because it operated by Sonic's intellect, but my own is the controlling genius in this machine! I/it uncoil and bring my/its weapons to bear on the empty grey room ahead, then it/I head straight for the door to annihilate these pathetic intruders. There can be no escape!

Hah! There they are, in the corridor to the left! It's that red-furred squirrel again, and his brother, too! At last! They have somehow evaded my forces for this long, but now I shall destroy them both! I/the robot fire, shooting them with all the lesser weaponry as I/it build up power for a more powerful shot. Somehow, as he has evaded the lesser robots, the red-furred one avoids all my/its shots, but I/it hit the other several times. And then the impossible! I send a laser beam to make that grey squirrel dodge, but it visibly curves towards him and hits his shoulder! The involuntary surprise reaction causes me/it to pause for a moment, and then the red one steps out, shouting "Now!" and they fire together -

The link is broken, destroyed while the robot was under my control! I have safety systems to protect against this happening, but the headache will still last some time. I will destroy the pathetic resistance! How has it survived so long?! From now on, all my weaponry will be brought to bear on these few fighters who dare trouble my great empire! Whatever they're planning, they shall not succeed!


	22. Crossfire: Unlikely Victory

**_-Crossfire-_**

Oh, little brother, you've finally fouled up for the last time! I, at least, should have known better than to follow the urge that pulls me on even now! Have both our senses dragged us here to die? Well, I will not die without giving a terrible battle, one Eggman will never forget! I look about me, up and down the plain grey corridor, robot debris lying here and there. A laser score or two mark my side, but it's nothing serious. I've had worse many a time, shall do again - if I survive this. Like that's gonna happen. I turn back to little brother, what do you know?

"Most paths… end in disaster. We go… this way." His speech, halting, as though for once he's having trouble. Little brother, we're all in trouble. Have been for a long time. Noticing it now? To be defeated, losing forever in a battle we cannot win, are you feeling it now? Hah. Little brother heads down the passage, stepping around fallen robots as though they weren't there, as though he happened to be walking that way anyway, same as he always does. I follow, slipping the big gun from my back, holding it warily. He'll remember me all right, one way or another. I'll turn this place into a blazing inferno! But we're still being pulled ahead.

"Traps. There, and there, there, there." He doesn't aim, he just fires, and hits every time. Whatever wires lay under those blank sections of wall, floor, and ceiling, they are useless now. We walk on, warily; I follow his lead because he knows what is.

"Danger… ahead. We can't go round…"

"And, little brother, we can't go back! This fool's errand is going to get us killed!" But I swear by everything I am, if I die now, I will have my vengeance! I will destroy this place! I can, even if I don't know how! Combat is what I am, as I named myself, and now there will be no survival I need hold on no longer!

"No, we do not die. We must fight, and win." His voice, as ever, totally calm, but somehow I know that seeing it has taken effort, that it is an improbable course. There is an easier way, little brother… the way you made me swear never to take. I didn't see why then, and I don't see why now. Perhaps I would have done… once. But not now. Not since that day of ruin that Robotnik brought to us, since that happened to change us so.

"Remember this and do it when I tell you. Fire at the plain grey area three centimetres up and six and a half centimetres to the right of the second red circle from the left."

His words are meaningless to me, but they'll mean something all right when we run into trouble! This I know, in the same way I know that my heart beats - it just is. I cock my head to one side, a sound beyond sound telling me something if only I didn't keep getting in the way of hearing it…

A real sound; footsteps of a robot coming closer round a corner. To the wall, still, so very still, silent, waiting… there! There, as it looks first away, to its right, then left, at us. Brother in full view, myself mostly exposed, no way it could miss us, and it doesn't. Fire, I shoot, he shoots, it shoots, laser fire everywhere. Some searing through my fur, no robot is phenomenally accurate but I just get hit anyway, little brother unmarked as he always has been, stepping aside before the shot is fired, I… I dodge, duck and weave, myself blocking myself from knowing what he does because he made me promise to - why, little brother? - pain flaring through my left arm, some part of me knowing I get hit more than I should, but whatever, it's not important, then he steps out into the centre of the corridor and that means he's got something in mind so I join him, gun in one hand now, lucky I'm strong enough to carry it that way, and he shouts now, and I fire, he fires, we fire together and we'll die like this lasers blazing when all of a sudden it stops in its tracks smoking from where we hit it, inactive, and I slow back down from battlefield time, we actually beat the thing after all. How? Only he knows, without knowing, and he won't let me let myself see…

That's my one relic of our previous life. I hold to what I say, though I don't know why, because if I just let go I could finish it all, forever. Destroy Robotnik as I burn to do, if only I… let go… so near me, reach out and touch the soundless voice I swore not to hear, but little brother's eyes widen and I've never seen that look on his face before, surprising enough to stop and look at him.

"That could have been close," he says, and I don't think he's talking about the robot. For what little worth my word is, I'll hold on to it for ever. Even if I no longer know why I should.

Ahead we walk, my arm hurts but I can ignore it. Little brother quickens his pace, we don't have far to go, the pull growing stronger as the distance decreases, like gravity tugging us in. There - a wide room open ahead, brother firing before thought, door jammed open with circuitry fried, a column in the centre housing a… Chaos Emerald?! Is that what we came here to find?! Little brother walking ahead, pace slow now, almost… reverentially… reaching to the keypad and tapping out a code that seems random but must be the right one because he knows what will be. The column hisses open with the sound of air released, and he reaches in to the Emerald. It is a brilliant shade of… of what? Somewhere between pink and purple, I suppose. At least we can get out through the trail we've made. Looks like I'll see another day after all…


	23. Amy: Reminded How to Win

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**-Amy-**

Staring at the maps spread out in front of me, I'm trying to correlate the information here with what Tails managed to download earlier, but I've reached the end of my concentration and now all I'm getting is a headache. I shake my head and look down again. Robotnik has a Chaos Emerald in base #25J, and probably one at #3H, then we're not certain where the others are. Both those bases are heavily guarded. I look up at the sound of footsteps; it's Tails, an odd expression on his face. I'm afraid I know what he's going to say even before he opens his mouth, and a hollow, sick feeling starts to form somewhere inside me.

"Amy? I was trying to get into the network again, and… and it's a - a hive of activity. Couldn't stay on, but I found out what it was."

He sounds afraid, unhappy, and the feeling just gets worse.

"It was - it was centred about a disturbance… where Blaze and Crossfire were looking," he continues, voice sounding as though he's about to break into tears. I don't feel so good myself, either.

"Was there any mention of deaths or prisoners?" My voice comes out a little harder than I'd intended, sharpened by fear, but Tails knows me well enough by now not to mind.

"N-no, not that I found, but… there wasn't time…"

They can't have died! They can't! Blaze always knows what he's doing, there's no way they could have been - killed. Dead. Blaze and Crossfire. Surely not? Who am I trying to fool? It comes to all of us eventually, like Crossfire said… just like he said.

I suddenly realise that I'm shaking, that there are tears trembling in my eyes. Tails steps forward and just rests his hand on my shoulder as a kind of silent consolation. The little gesture almost makes me break down completely. I rub a hand across my eyes and pick up the transmitter microphone, keying in Sonic's frequency.

"S-Sonic… please, you and Shadow must come back now. I -" I break off before he can catch the choked sob in my voice. For all that Sonic's returned to us, we're still on the run, on the defensive, losing ground with every day. I knew that sooner or later this would happen, would have to happen. I thought I could take it… I guess I can't as easily as I'd thought.

"Oh Tails, why? Why did it have to happen? Blaze said - he said he knew…" I can't carry on, start crying uncontrollably into Tails' shoulder. He just holds me, lets me stay there, trying to give me what comfort he can, though I know he feels no better himself.

A short time later, a loud crash echoes through the building, as if someone pushed a door open hard enough for it to hit the wall with a bang. Tails and I jump, survival instincts taking over, automatically separating and looking at the doorway, I with gun in hand, he ready to tailspin into the intruders. Scant seconds later, Sonic and Shadow run in, looking at me. Sonic's first to speak.

"We came as fast as we could. What is it?"

"Tails says there's a disturbance… around where Blaze and Crossfire were searching. They - they're dead…" I bow my head and stare at the floor on the last part, unable to look up. Perhaps if I hadn't…

"A 'disturbance'? Did they actually catch anything?"

"I - we don't know. He didn't have time to find out…"

"Then in that case, they probably didn't, or it'd be all over the network. Besides, unless Eggman's got a lot smarter since I saw him last, used to be you'd be more likely to get hit by a car than one of his robots! You didn't use to give up so easy, Amy. If anyone can avoid those robots, however good they are, it'd be Blaze - right?" He's right, and he's daring to hope far more than I have in a long time. His words fire me with new hope, and I can tell they've affected Tails, too.

"We'll have to just wait for them, at least for now. Everything's on high alert, so the more of us out there, the worse our chances'll get," Tails says, but his voice is suddenly brighter, like his expression. Sonic's given us hope again, by refusing to give in, just like he used to. Why hadn't I even really considered the possibility that they could have survived? Have I become so expectant of defeat that I'm losing before I start to fight?

You didn't use to give up so easy, Amy. Maybe that's why we keep on losing… because we've forgotten how to win.


	24. Sonic: To Set Right the Past

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**-Sonic-**

Everybody's here, waiting for Blaze and Crossfire. I pace up and down the length of the little room, waiting. Up and down. Up and down. Despite my words to Amy, I can't still the worry that they really are dead, that we really are losing just as Crossfire said, defeated before we have even begun. Tails' voice cuts into my thoughts, surprise and happiness and hope intermingled.

"It's Blaze! He's on the radio! He says they're okay, and they're coming back!"

Chess yells, grabs Tails, and spins him around in a circle. Trick and Gaze break into a brilliant smile, and so does Amy. I glance across at Shadow, who looks relieved, and happy, as Amy walks up to me. Her voice is soft, as though she wants no-one else to hear what she has to say.

"Thank you, Sonic… you've brought our hopes back to life. I think… we'd all got so used to losing… that we couldn't remember what it was like to win." She still has to look slightly up at me, though not so much as before. Her eyes are softer than they were, not like her old self, though, still tempered by sorrow, and more mature. What does she see when she looks at me? Surely not the hero she used to. I was never who she made me out to be. I - well, nobody can be perfect, I guess...

Time has changed them all, except me. As though I've been thrown forward in time several years, and in effect that's exactly what has happened. What would have happened had I been able to stay with them? Would I have been able to help, or would I have died needlessly? Could Shadow have defeated Robotnik if I had been by his side, or would we both have failed?

There's no answering those questions now, but they persist in my mind, as though my coma was my own doing. I want to scream, 'It wasn't my fault!', but that wouldn't be true, and it would be stupid, a childish way of trying to reject the reality I'm facing. Because I could have done something different, anything but what I did. If I had only hesitated just a few seconds before dashing into that room, as Tails did, I might not have ended up the way I did. I might have… might have stayed with them, might have… Never mind. I can't change it; best just to carry on as best I can.

It seems forever before we hear the door opening, though I suppose it must have only been a few minutes. A few minutes of wondering whether or not they'd make it after all, a few minutes of trying not to think about what I could have done if only I'd not been in that room in that building… with the explosive, and the icy knowledge closing in on me in that last second that it had all been a trap…

And then Blaze and Crossfire walk in, slowly, tired, Crossfire injured, marks of new laser burns crossing through his fur, but Blaze has an air of triumph and even Crossfire doesn't seem totally able to look only on the bad side of things. As soon as the others see them, they launch into a second celebration, some shouting for joy, others just looking so very relieved. And then there's me, alone in the midst of it. I'm glad they made it back, but the fact remains that if it hadn't been for me, this might never have had to happen.

Amy looks Crossfire up and down like she's assessing his injuries, then glances across to Blaze. Despite the fact that Crossfire seems to have been in a hard fight, Blaze is completely uninjured, but that seems quite unimportant to her, like she's used to it. He said to me, earlier, that he knows where things will be, that he's never in the same place as any kind of danger, but still… it's odd. He puts one hand behind his back, keeping it hidden as he turns slightly to face all of us - no, to face me. Why face me? Slowly, playing a game with us, teasing, he draws his hand out, whatever he's holding still hidden within it, the palm of his hand and its contents turned away from us. And then, in a sudden motion, he turns his hand over and holds out his prize at arm's length, displaying it in all its glory. A Chaos Emerald. Everyone breaks out in a babble of questions, of realisations, of sudden understanding.

We're one step, one large step, closer to our goal. Could they have done this without me, all this time? They must have been able to, surely. So why didn't they? What I said to Amy… was it more true than I'd thought? Have they been giving up too easily, too long? And then I remember Shadow, remember the state he was in when I saw him, remember what he said to me. No… they've not been able to fight back, partly, they've been so tired for so long, fighting the same old fight over and over. If I hadn't awoken when I did, if I'd been with them from the start, I might even now be trapped in the same cycle. Maybe some little good has come out of that, after all. And from what Shadow told me, it was pure chance they managed to stay ahead of Robotnik after all. If he hadn't run off…

And if I'd slowed down somewhere, anywhere, for just a few seconds, I'd have recovered and followed up on the trap that tried to kill me. Then I'd have found Robotnik. But if I'd slowed, I'd never have known whether or not some innocent person had died because of it. We all do the best we can, and that was one choice I had to make the way I did. Now… now is another day, and I'm going to have to do better than I ever have before. This time, it will turn out better. It has to.


	25. Tails: Friendship Worn By Change

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**-Tails-**

Although Sonic's words gave us all hope, although they called in telling us they'd be all right, I can still hardly believe it when Blaze and Crossfire walk in together. Chess yells and leaps into the air, and she's not the only one. Caught up in the general mood, it takes me a few seconds to notice Crossfire's hurt. By then, I see Amy looking him over, expression saying a lot to me, though it's probably pretty blank to Sonic. Worry that he's hurt, relief that it's not worse, a lot more subtle impressions behind her not-quite-neutral expression. Amy has a tougher self-control than I'd once thought she could ever have. And Sonic… what's he thinking? I glance across at him, but his expression is almost unreadable, and I realise with a shock that I don't know. I just don't know. Sonic… he was my friend for so long, but that was all those years ago, and now… he's not a stranger, but everything is so different. I don't know what he's thinking, don't know what he'll say. I've pinned my hopes on him for years, but time's worn away all the little things I used to know about him. How could this… he was my best friend… and now…

I'm not really looking at Blaze, but what he holds out in front of him grabs everyone's attention. A gem a little bigger than his fist, brilliant colour shining from its facets, casting dancing reflections across the room - a Chaos Emerald! How - ?

Blaze smiles, the light reflected from his blue eyes, dancing there. The blue adds a secondary colour, hinting at mysteries I've never even thought of. It's almost… strange, seeing those eyes gazing down upon the Emerald. There's something, an idea nagging at the very edge of my thoughts, but it's dispelled when Blaze starts to speak.

"I thought we'd find something important."

Everyone goes quiet and listens to him. We all want to know how in the world he found it, how he got it away from Robotnik. It must have been the one in that base, but I wasn't going to go after that yet; it's too heavily guarded. No wonder he raised a storm on the network! I want to ask so many questions, but for now I'll just let him talk.

"We were looking for scrap near the base, and both of us started feeling that we had to go there. It wasn't something we could ignore, like we were being drawn there by an invisible force."

"Yeah, your crazy feelings almost got us killed. Knew I'd see the day when you fouled up." Crossfire's hostility is normal, normal to all of us but Sonic, and even he seems to accept it as the way Crossfire is. Somewhere deep under his harsh exterior, I think Crossfire is just a little bit pleased with what they managed to carry off this time.

"I knew we wouldn't die." But there's almost uncertainty in his voice, and a peculiar emphasis on the 'we' that makes me want to shudder. They wouldn't die… but by the sound of that, I'm not certain he'd thought we'd live through whatever followed that choice that they hadn't made. Blaze continues his recount of events, unperturbed.

"We got into the base easily enough, and we had surprise on our side. There was one robot that was pretty tough, but I knew where its weak point was. Then we found the Emerald and got out. But the others won't be so easy. He's alert now, and I think we made him mad." No need to ask who 'he' is; we all know that one. Robotnik.

"Easy, was it? Easy enough for you to say. You never get hurt at all. Don't know why you made me promise you…" His voice is cutting, harsh, as always. I've never found out what this promise of his was, but it's something important to both of them, and Blaze seems to think it very necessary.

In all this recitation, the only person, oddly enough, who didn't seem at all surprised, or even too unexpecting of this, was Sonic. He was clearly worried about them, worried for their safety, but he seemed… pleased, I think, when Blaze mentioned that strange attraction. As though he'd suspected something, and wanted it confirmed. Perhaps he wanted to know if Blaze could find the Emeralds for us… well, I think that's just been proved well enough for me.

Amy's seeing to Crossfire, walking out with him now to our temporary infirmary. There's rarely much change in his expression, but his shoulder must hurt. I don't think anybody wants to think about strategy and our next move right now; we just want to celebrate our victories. It won't hurt to let all that go for the rest of today, at least. We haven't had something like this happen in so long, and now Sonic wakes up, thinks of a plan, gives Shadow a chance to rest, and we get another Emerald, all in a few days! Looks like life's finally on the upturn, and we're finally getting a proper chance to win. Sonic's done so much for us… he's every bit the hero we were all afraid we'd lost. And he will be my friend… no, he always was. I'm the one who's changed. I want things to be the way they were again, me and Sonic. Amy's my friend too, and the others, but Sonic… he was always my best friend. And now he's woken up and I don't know him like I used to any more. Sonic… I'll be your friend again, just like I used to. You'll see. I can't have changed that much. I can't.


	26. Knuckles: Emerald's Guardian

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**-Knuckles-**

One of those rare few days when it's actually relatively peaceful. We're holed up in a natural cave I found underground, waiting, getting ready to move on. We can't stay in one place for too long, always moving, on the run. It seems such a long time since I had to leave Angel Island… maybe forever. Don't know if I'll ever be able to return now. It's in the ocean, stable, but I have the Master Emerald. I have to, to keep it away from Robotnik. Seems so long… so long…

I don't know what happened, how Robotnik got to be so powerful, but when his robots first came to the island, I couldn't beat them back, because they just kept on coming. Slowly, we're running out of places to hide, running out of time. And Sonic… I heard from someone, in one of the hidden settlements, that Sonic was in a coma, that he wasn't coming back. Don't know about that, but if he were still around, I don't think Robotnik would be ruling the world now. Even Angel Island. We grounded it and got away just in time. The fall destroyed most of the robots chasing us.

And since then I've been running, trying my hardest to protect the Master Emerald. If Robotnik really paid all his attention to finding it, I don't think we'd be here now, but he acts as though he has all the time in the world - because nowadays, he's the only one who does.

I look up, around the little cave. There's not much in here, just me at the moment, alert, ready, waiting in case the next thing to arrive is a robot. Always ready for battle, because I have to be, always fighting and running and fighting again, because I must, protecting the Emerald with my life in this drawn-out retreat. Because I am retreating, further and further, with every passing day. I'd thought I could best his robots, and I can, but there are too many of them to keep up a battle, because however many I destroy, they just keep on coming…

A little sound, the scrape of earth on stone, brushes the edge of my hearing. Automatically I tense, eyes flicking to the Master Emerald in its hollowed-out recess, then back to the entranceway. It's only wide enough to fit one at a time, so I can hold on in here for a long time, if I have to. As the intruder comes closer, my ears catch footsteps, shoes on loose soil, and I relax just a little. Only one person would be coming down here, knowing where to turn, and she'll be in my sight in another few minutes.

Rouge enters, looking about automatically, as battle-ready as I, checking that nothing has happened while she's been gone. The treasure hunter who was once fighting me for shards of the Master Emerald is now one of my greatest allies in protecting it. Turn and turn about, we keep watch, leave to gather what information we can so that we'll be prepared for the next strike. Whatever she's found this time, it doesn't look good.

"There's rumours that Robotnik managed to catch Amy and her resistance fighters, but that's not too reliable, because after that happened, Robotnik lost a Chaos Emerald to 'unidentified intruders'. Only one group would be daring enough to try a grab for those. But… there's also something that looks more… solid."

Her face is oddly sad; something must be wrong. Something bad has happened, must have done.

"Rumours are also flying that, the last time Amy changed hideout, they didn't take the life-support equipment. People are beginning to talk about giving in. With Sonic gone… he was an emblem of hope for everybody… they all dreamed that he'd awaken someday…"

Sonic can't be dead! We didn't always see eye to eye, but… I respected him, and he me, and though all that is lost in the mists of the past now, it never seemed as though…

Rouge puts a hand up for silence, cocks her head to one side, listening. Her ears are far sharper than mine, and she seems to think she's heard something in the tunnel system. We look at each other, and, concentrating, she holds up three fingers, slowly, one at a time, a longer pause between the second and the third. So, two or three, coming down into the tunnels. Nothing we can't handle. Side by side, at the doorway, Rouge and I stand ready for battle again.


	27. Rouge: News of Death

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**-Rouge-**

I walk through the dark tunnels, alert for the slightest sound. There's nothing but my own footfalls, sure and certain, following the route I've memorised, because it's the only safe way back to the cave where we keep the Master Emerald… at least for now. We'll have to move on again sooner or later, and probably sooner, because we've been here quite a while now. It's lucky Robotnik doesn't pay us much real attention, or we might have lost long ago…

I'm not going to think like that! If I think that way, I'll start wondering why I keep on fighting… especially given what I've just been told. I'm not looking forward to telling Knuckles, not at all. He's not going to like this. I don't like it, and I barely knew Sonic. It's not just who he was… it's that, for so long, everyone's believed that everything would be okay when he woke up again. It might have been a foolish hope, but it gave a lot of people something to hope for. Now they're talking about giving up.

I suddenly realise I've come to the entrance to our little chamber, lost in thought. Knuckles is standing near the doorway, waiting for me; he must have heard me coming. Even thinking about what I've just been told, I'm still wary, ready for anything, and I check out the cave and him in almost a reflex action. He's looking at me, waiting for me to tell him what I know, so I start talking. One thing at a time.

"There's rumours that Robotnik managed to catch Amy and her resistance fighters, but that's not too reliable, because after that happened, Robotnik lost a Chaos Emerald to 'unidentified intruders'. Only one group would be daring enough to try a grab for those." Amy's been one of our strongest assets… by 'us', I mean the remaining free people of this world. She's proved to be a capable leader with generally excellent judgement… not what I'd have said about her at all, when we first met, back aboard the ARK, so long ago now.

I have to tell him about what else I've heard, but I don't want to. He looks straight at me, wanting to know what it is, so I carry on with barely a pause.

"But… there's also something that looks more… solid. Rumours are also flying that, the last time Amy changed hideout, they didn't take the life-support equipment. People are beginning to talk about giving in. With Sonic gone… he was an emblem of hope for everybody… they all dreamed that he'd awaken someday…" I stop before I start breaking up. Knuckles looks at me disbelievingly, like he doesn't want to believe it. I didn't want to either, but…

I hear a noise, gesture to him for silence with a sharp wave of my hand, though he wasn't saying anything, listen hard, straining my ears for a betraying sound. Shiftings, the patter of loose earth, a million tiny noises echoing down the dark passages. I'd say there are two or three, whatever they are, and coming our way, so I hold up one finger, then a second, and after a pause, a third. He takes up a fighting stance in the doorway, just as I do, and we wait for these intruders.


	28. Chess: I Don't Believe in Ghosts!

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**-Chess-**

I hate dark tunnels. Especially like this one, where the roof is made of earth and drops stuff on your head at the slightest provocation. Oh, don't get me wrong, no way I'm backing out of here, not now. It'd be better if only some light filtered in, but we've been up and down and around so many turnings now, the only way I can tell which wall's the floor is that gravity pulls me to it! I hope Amy knows where she's going, because I certainly don't! And that torch she has is not good for much, even when she isn't turning it off for fear of robots.

Amy? Yes, she's with me. Or rather, I'm with her. Not that I wanted her, of all people, out here with me. No way, not our leader, she's not supposed to get in danger, but by the time she'd finished listing who couldn't go, we'd all been manoeuvred into saying she could. Of course Trick and Gaze couldn't come, not them, they're too young still. Blaze and Crossfire, well, Sonic wants to keep them working together, and Knuckles has never so much as met either one, and we all know what Crossfire can be like, and how Blaze can seem if you aren't used to him. Then there's Tails, but he has to stay working on his Emerald detector and goodness knows what else. Sonic has to stay out of sight until we're ready for Robotnik to learn he's still here, or we lose a large advantage, and Shadow is supposed to be staying out of the way to make sure he's at his full strength for… well, whenever he's needed.

So that left Amy. And me, of course, to accompany her. How does she do that? If she'd come out with wanting to go straight off, we'd all have given a flat-out 'No!' But put like that, you agree before you know it, and it seems perfectly reasonable! That's why she's leading, I suppose. She's leading, and we're all following along just as she wishes.

She's turned off her torch again, but - is that a light up ahead? Very dim, like a nearly-dead torch bulb about to go out. I nudge her and point ahead; she nods and moves to the wall, flat against it behind a jutting boulder. Silently, with all the natural stealthiness I can summon from my feline heritage, eyes wide to catch even the tiniest detail, I creep forward. The passage comes to a rise, then slopes down again, and the light is behind that rise.

I raise my head carefully, no higher than I have to, ears flat to make me as hard to spot as possible. The light is - is - is… Not possible. Absolutely, totally, completely not possible. I take another look, but it's the same as before. This light is hovering, moving slightly up and down, in empty air in the middle of the corridor. Which is not exactly reassuring.

I'd better tell Amy, anyway, she can see for herself if she doesn't believe me. So I duck back down and turn about, not quite running but moving as fast as I can while still being quiet.

"Amy," I whisper as soon as I reach her, "I've found… something. That light… it… it looks like it's hovering in empty air. Maybe it's some kind of trap? And it really is hovering, you know I'd see if there were anything else there!" I might be whispering, but it still comes out more forcefully than I intend. She'd better believe me.

Amy looks across at me. She almost seems - amused? She'd better not be laughing at me! I open my mouth to speak again, but she cuts me off.

"Wonderful! We've found what we're looking for, then! Come on!"

I frown at her in bemusement as she steps out and walks towards this light, as if an old friend is waiting over that rise with it. But Amy seems to know what she's doing, so with a sigh, I follow. Never thought I'd be doing anything like this, back when the only way I'd heard of Robotnik was by reading the papers and stuff. Back when I sold newspapers on a corner of the city street, just because it was something to do, on my own, to show I could be independent. Boy, did I learn. An independent kitten on a street corner with her papers, trying to prove she didn't need anybody else to hold her up… until the city collapsed around her, and she got a first-off chance at being really independent. Not to say that I did a good job of it. I sort of wandered around lost, couldn't find my family - they're still alive out there, they have to be - then, after a while of living rough and dodging the robots that were already taking over, I ran into Amy. And, much as I hate to admit it, I think she brought me with her because she felt sorry for me and thought I needed looking after. I've managed to take care of myself well enough since, and Trick and Gaze as well, if somewhat erratically. And I'll find that family of mine, someday, when all this is over and done and searching for them won't just bring more trouble on their heads.

We crest the rise. The light's still there, and I pull up short, but Amy heads down like there's nothing at all to be worried about. And then she starts talking to it, and for a moment I wonder just how strong my grip on reality is.

"Tikal! Is it safe? We must find Knuckles - can you take us to him?"

I look at her like she's gone mad, but only for a second, because I could swear I'm hearing that light speak!

"I'll tell him you're coming. Keep going ahead."

Then it whisks off, down the passage and straight through a solid earth wall. I think I must have fallen asleep or something, I must have!

"A-Amy? What was that?" I'm trying to keep my voice calm, not my style maybe, but she seems to think this is quite normal!

"I'm sorry, Chess. I should have warned you we might meet her. That was Tikal." Amy hesitates a moment before continuing. "She's… she's an echidna who died several hundred years ago, to seal Chaos within the Master Emerald."

Now, Chaos I remember; that wasn't exactly something you could forget in a hurry, wherever you were. But Tikal? And I don't believe in ghosts, anyway. I mean, come on, that's just silly! I say as much to Amy, but she just gives me a funny look, as if to say that I don't know everything about the world yet, and carries on. These tunnels were playing with my sense of direction, but I know this is real… even though it doesn't seem it. Next time, somebody else can come with her, and good luck to them!


	29. Amy: Emeralds and Rumours

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**-Amy-**

Chess seems pretty much dumbstruck by our short meeting with Tikal. I've met her before, so I knew what to expect, but maybe I should have mentioned her earlier. Ah well, too late for that now. After a few more minutes of walking through these corridors, we should find Knuckles. I think the sooner we get out of here after that, the happier Chess will be. Maybe I shouldn't have picked her to accompany me, but I didn't really want to bring anyone else.

There's a junction up ahead. I almost walk past the little entrance, but something catches my eye and I turn. It's like a narrow doorway, and through it, one to either side, stand Knuckles and Rouge. They seem ready for battle, as though half-expecting robots, no matter what Tikal may have said to them. Behind them both, just out of sight, something casts a gentle green radiance into the room. It must be the Master Emerald, but I'm not interested in that; I'm more concerned with something else they're supposed to have. As far as we've been able to determine, Knuckles has one of the Chaos Emeralds, and I'm here to ask for it from him.

"Knuckles?"

He looks straight at me, and then at Chess, behind me. I don't think he's changed as much as some of us, he still seems much the same as I remember, but his eyes are warier than before. He was always exactly who he was, I guess, still is, but he's more… more ready to suspect us of something, less likely to believe anyone's story - not just mine, anyone's. But I wasn't expecting his next question.

"What they're saying about Sonic - is it true?"

Chess jumps in before I've a chance to think.

"Yes! Isn't it wonderful?!"

He takes half a step back and looks at her like she's gone mad. So does Rouge, for that matter. Chess looks back at them both, not quite sure what to think, I'd say.

"What are they saying about Sonic?" I cut in before they've a chance to go any further. This looks like Chess is thinking one thing, but they'd quite a different idea in mind when Knuckles spoke. This time it's Rouge who answers me, voice soft.

"Rumour has it that Sonic… is dead."

"No. No, he's not dead." Can I trust them? I'd better be able to. I'm going to have to. I know they aren't with Robotnik, or the Master Emerald would be in his hands by now, but if either one says something, and the news spreads… there are always those who'd try and be spared from Robotnik's rule. All it would take would be one person who thought that they'd be safe in return for information like that, and we'd lose our main advantage - surprise. But I have to trust these two, and I don't think it's likely that either one will talk about it to others.

"Sonic's back with us. He's awake, and alive, and he thinks he can defeat Robotnik. But we need your Chaos Emerald to do it. Please..."

For a moment they look shocked, then Rouge produces the Emerald and holds it out to me.

"Please? You don't need to ask. If you can stop this, I think you can have anything short of the Master Emerald itself." And in her eyes is the same knowledge that has been in all ours so long. Running, because they have no choice, and every time they run it leads to running again, until before anyone knew it seemed as if there was no other way but to run. How much of everyone's defeat has been in our own minds?


	30. Knuckles: Tomorrow's Promise

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**-Knuckles-**

Sonic's awake… That impossible possibility, coming so soon after Rouge said he was dead, turns and twists the world about me until I'm not sure what I can believe. I realise I'm still looking into the corridor where Amy stood, though she's gone now, several minutes gone already, Chaos Emerald in her hand like a treasure more precious than anything. It is, to her… a ray of hope. A single ray, but so much more than we've had for a long time… a shaft of light illuminating a future that could, somehow, be the way life was, years ago now…

I was sitting on the steps of the shrine, more than half asleep, just reflecting on whatever drifted through my mind. There was a distant bird singing, the sound of the wind blowing past the cliff edges of the island. It had rained earlier, but now the sun was shining, everything still glittering with the raindrops scattered all over. I knew something was terribly wrong just before it happened… and snapped open my eyes as it did. That instant of peaceful timelessness before it happened is imprinted on my mind, vivid in recollection as though it was only a few minutes ago I saw it…

The whole island shook, the green glow of the Master Emerald behind me fading in that split second to almost nothing; the bird stopped singing and even the wind seemed to cease for an instant. I drove my spikes into the cracks between the stones to hold me steady as I turned, scrambled desperately to the Master Emerald, which had all but stopped rotating and lost its radiant glow. Holding on grimly to the stone beneath me, I stared into its green depths… but I couldn't believe the image that slowly formed inside.

A Chaos Emerald… cracking, and shattering, shards turning in an instant to invisible energy streaming far from its original form…

As I stared in disbelief, the Master Emerald began to glow again, rebalancing the powers of the remaining Chaos Emeralds against each other. The image within it slowly faded out of existence, and the island began to stop its terrible shaking. Soon, had it not been for what I had seen, everything would have seemed normal, as though nothing had ever happened. But the bird did not dare to begin its song again…

A tap on my shoulder brings me out of my reverie, and I turn my head to look into Rouge's eyes. As if she does not dare believe, but does so anyway, hope and fear, delight and trepidation war on her face.

"Knuckles," she says softly, "we're going to have to move on again soon, aren't we…?"

It's only half a question, because she knows the answer as well as I do. We will. None of our hiding places remain unassailed for too long, so we move on.

"Yes, we are." You know that, Rouge… as do I. Sometimes, I long for my island, but there's no way I can return…

"Then… Amy said Sonic had a plan, to overthrow Robotnik. If he can do that… even if he can't… we should help him. We have to…"

We have to, because you need to hope, after so long without it. You need to know that we're doing our best, that we're fighting back, that we've got a chance, however slight. You've always been practical, but this time, you want to dream… right, Rouge? And you want to live that dream, to try and make it real.

"What do you suggest we do?" I ask her. Let's live that dream… let's fight together for the promise of tomorrow.

"I… Amy only just left. If we hurry, we can catch up with her, go with her, to help them…?"

I nod, turn about, and get the Master Emerald from its recess. She smiles suddenly, briefly, and we leave together, running quietly to catch up with Amy. Enough of regretting yesterday… let's all fight for tomorrow.


	31. Sonic: Window of Opportunity

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**-Sonic-**

Amy's set off to find Knuckles. She says he's got a Chaos Emerald, or she thinks he does. He's on the run, too, forced to leave Angel Island, running with his Emerald from Robotnik, just like everyone else… How has it come to this?! Of course I know the answer, but I can't help asking the question, can't help my inability to completely believe it all. Tails is working nearby; every now and then he looks up at me with a strange expression, like he's wondering what I'm thinking. The others are around somewhere, whether looking out for robots that might be headed our way, or catching some rest, I'm not sure.

It seems like a long time since she left, though I'm pretty sure it isn't. I doubt she's even halfway to where she said Knuckles was yet. I look over at the computer, which displays the time at the top of the screen – less than a minute has passed since I last checked. Time's always seemed to pass slowly for me, it has to, or I wouldn't be able to react in time for my lightning speeds, but right now it seems to be even slower, every second stretching out forever.

I can't help noticing the other things on the screen, the map with its flashing points that highlight the locations of Robotnik's last three Chaos Emeralds, the recently updated list of robots detailed to those locations… None of the robots have changed much, it would seem; I reach over and call up the details on a few of them, recognising them or a similar version from my own, past battles. None of them, I recall, were all that hard to fight…

This one I don't know, though, some kind of heavily-armoured thing, no more than an image accessible in what information Tails managed to get from Robotnik's network. Blaze and Crossfire said they fought one like that, said it was hard. I check the lists again; several of those are listed as inactive in both bases – in fact, there are no active ones, although most are ready for activation. Maybe he's not expecting anything so soon after the last time we got an Emerald – and I can fight all the others easily. I want to be doing something; now I think I've found a way to help. By the time Amy gets back, we could be in and out, and have our own Emerald to show her!

I'm not sure she'd agree to this if she knew; she's become a lot more cautious. I guess it's helped them all survive this long. But we have to take risks too, sometimes, and this looks like a great opportunity, with all of the most powerful robots inactive! How long might we have to wait for another chance like that?

I realise, still looking at the map, I've already made up my mind, I'm only going through the motions of rationalising my choice. I'm going to take some of the others, and get that Chaos Emerald while Robotnik's defences are down!

Tails is looking at me curiously; I'm grinning, he wants to know why, I think, wants to know what ideas I might have had. Well, I'll tell him, and I'll take him, too, I think, him and Shadow. We shouldn't need anyone else, they can stay and protect this place, watch out for danger, wait for Amy.

"Hey, Tails, come take a look at this!"

He stands up, leaving the half-finished piece of equipment on the floor, and walks over, expression questioning. I point to the lists, the tip of my gloved finger just brushing the screen, right at the 'inactive' listing for the only really dangerous robots there are there. He doesn't quite understand what I want at first, starts telling me what he knows about the robots.

"Those are Robotnik's newest kind of robot, and some of the most dangerous. Every time he comes up with a new idea, those robots get the first upgrade. They're a model called 'R-INTRANS' that we've never been able to find out about. I guess there are some things he won't even put on his network."

"No, Tails." I cut in almost before he's finished speaking; he looks at me questioningly, as though trying to figure out what I want to tell him, or what I want him to tell me, as if he's wondering why I'm sounding so excited. I carry on talking.

"Tails, look! They're all listed as inactive! And it looks like those robots are the only real danger in there – you know I can take on all the others! If we hurry, we should be able to get that Chaos Emerald and get out again before Robotnik knows what's hit him!"

Tails nods as he realises what I'm saying, a smile forming on his face. It looks like this will be relatively easy. He nods again as I say one last thing…

"Let's go find Shadow and get that Emerald!"


	32. Shadow: Time to Face my Fear

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**-Shadow-**

I look up as Sonic walks into the room, hearing his footsteps. It still feels a little strange to see him walking in, still surprises me slightly to see his face in an attitude of anything other than deep and dreamless sleep. Tails follows him in, a smile on his face, excited about something, looking eager to do something. What? Sonic's reckless grin throws my memory back through the years for a moment, to the times before this ever began, when I remember seeing that expression before… normally right before he was about to try something daring, regardless of the risk, and I wonder what he's thinking now.

"Shadow?"

I stand.

"What is it, Sonic?" It still feels a little strange to be talking to him again… after so long of his seeming all but dead…

"The Chaos Emeralds, the ones that Robotnik has – I took a look through the information Tails got from the network, and the robots guarding them all look pretty easy to beat! The only ones that could be any real danger to us are inactive!"

He's planning to go after Robotnik's last three Emeralds?! The idea shocks me, more than I think it ought to. No… not that idea… the thought of them being so easy to get at… I glance down to my mechanical hand. Robotnik did this to me before he even managed to gain control of the world… there's no way it could be so easy. Is there? Has he grown overconfident? Have we come to fear him too much?

Or is it a trap?

Sonic looks at me, head tilted slightly to one side, waiting for my response. His gaze, too, flicks to my arm for a brief moment, and for a moment, his expression changes, startled, maybe even a little afraid – then he blinks, and returns to normal. I saw him do that earlier, too, again when he was looking at me… what is it? What can he be seeing? It's not my failure, not my pain… it's something else, something of his own. Why? What do I – or my mechanical left hand – remind him of?

Tails saw Sonic's expression change, too. He's looking at Sonic with a worried expression now, as if that brief flicker meant something to him, something to be concerned about. As if it could mean something very bad was happening, behind Sonic's green eyes.

"It's – it's nothing, Shadow. I'm fine." I must have looked concerned, or maybe simply puzzled; whatever it was, he noticed it. He asks me a question, maybe changing the subject before either Tails or I can say anything about it.

"So, Shadow… you coming with us?"

I nod. I'm coming. We've none of us had hope in such a long time, though it's only a thin ray, this is our chance. And I think I was right… after what he did to me, after how easily I was defeated, I've come to fear Robotnik too much. After what he's done to the world, I think we all have. Sonic's the only one among us now who doesn't know that fear.

It's time I realised my fear… time I faced it… time I defeated it. To give everyone a chance…


	33. Tails: Entrance to Danger

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**-Tails-**

Sonic and Shadow walk just a little ahead of me, cautious, though I can see Sonic clearly wants to run. But this close to the base, we can't risk it; there are probably robot sentries everywhere. Once we've got in… then, we can all run, like in the old days, when Sonic was with us, just like we used to… he and I, together, fighting Robotnik…

I blink and shake my head, wanting to smile, wanting to cry. Smile, because Sonic's back with us; cry, because I've changed so much, and he hasn't at all. Because my friend is back among us after so long – but after so long, I've changed so much, become so different, forgotten so many little things, that I don't know him the way I used to anymore!

I remind myself it will just take time, just a little time, that's all – no matter what, Sonic's still my best friend. I'll relearn what I've forgotten soon enough; I have to. I missed him so much… and now he's awake I still miss him, because I've changed and he hasn't, so that we've been forced apart. But I shouldn't be thinking about this now… I should be thinking about how we get into this base…

"Sonic? You see that pile of scrap metal over there?"

"What about it, Tails?"

"Well… it looks like it's probably where he dumps the parts of failed robots… so there might be some kind of chute leading to it. Maybe we could get in that way." It looks like it's possible – that darker shape above it, is it a shadow or an entrance? Looks like the end of some kind of chute, I think, watching it, as are the others, now.

Sonic nods.

"Good idea, Tails! That looks like our way in!"

I can tell Shadow agrees, though he doesn't say anything. Looking around, alert and wary, we move closer to the pile. Once there, it should be easy to hide amidst the robotic junk… problem is, there's still a clear space to cross before we get there, and not only that, but I can see some robots patrolling it. But that doesn't seem to worry Sonic at all. We all three crouch behind the closest piece of cover we can find, watching the robots. As I stare across the flat expanse of clear ground, I notice the patterns to the robots' movements... it looks like there should be several gaps where we can make it across without being noticed. I touch Sonic's shoulder lightly; he looks at me, and I whisper to him.

"Sonic, it looks like we should be able to get across... you see those two robots? When they pass each other, get ready!"

"You got it, Tails!" Sonic replies, even his whisper full of the same life and energy that I remember, tones still in his voice that this long and endless battle has almost worn away from the rest of us. He leans across to tell Shadow, who's on his right; I see Shadow nod, though I don't hear him speak, if he does. Watching the robots, I tense... they're almost ready for us to get across...

Almost...

Now! I jump out from behind the scrap metal we were hiding behind and run, as fast as I can, my tails spinning at full speed and moving me forward so fast that my feet no longer quite touch the ground. Even so, both Sonic and Shadow overtake me before I reach the junk pile, and as they, then I, dive into the shelter that it affords, I look back along the clear expanse. A robot has turned, too early! Has it seen us?! I peer out from the parts I'm hiding behind, but it doesn't seem to have; it's just going on with its patrol, and I breathe a silent sigh of relief.

From here I can see the chute clearly, a dark opening in the side of the building, from which a trickle of oil has stained the wall. I look at Sonic and Shadow, and carefully, staying out of sight, we climb up the pile of robot parts until we're standing right beneath it... then we jump, and we're inside!


	34. Shadow: Slips

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**-Shadow-**

The pile of scrap metal Tails saw was easy enough to climb, although in some places it was pretty unstable. Standing poised on the top, I take one last look back to check nothing's going to see my movement – then I jump. I half-expect to just catch the edge, to have to be pulled up, but after the rest Sonic's return has granted me, I'm stronger now than I have been for... a long time... Landing easily within the chute, I give a slight nod to Sonic and Tails, and look up its steep slope... into darkness.

"It's pitch-black up there..." whispers Tails, looking the same way.

"There's probably just a cover over it or something, Tails. Even if there's not, we can handle the dark well enough, right?" Even whispering, Sonic's voice is full of confidence, an energy and spirit we've not heard in so long. Tails replies, his own whisper drawing strength from Sonic, some slight touch of the youthful hope and absolute trust in his friend that he once had returning to spark in the tone of his voice.

"You're right, Sonic. Ready?"

He nods, as do I. I step forwards, up the slope – and my foot almost skids out from under me! For a moment I'm helpless, off-balance, about to fall, but Sonic's already reacted and he catches my right hand, stabilising me for just long enough to let me regain my balance.

"You okay, Shadow?"

"I'm fine," I reply. "I just slipped." I briefly bend and trace the gloved fingers of my real hand across the ground. When I hold them up to the light shining in from the end of the chute, I see a dark stain across them... some kind of liquid, oil perhaps from the robot parts, mixed with whatever other things leak from what comes down here. My jets have never burned anything before, shouldn't do, operating as they do by the natural energy that flows through my body, rather than in the way that most people think when they hear the word 'jets'. Using them, I'll be able to run up this chute no matter how slippery it is. Tails can fly... but that leaves us with Sonic, who can't...

"What is it?" Tails asks, looking at my hand and the liquid on my fingers. I hold it out to him, let him see.

"...It looks like oil or something... Sonic, this whole chute's gonna be incredibly slippery..."

"Can you fly me up?" Of course, Tails can fly with him... as long as the chute's short enough for Tails to reach the top before he has to rest. If it isn't... I might be able to support Sonic, stop him sliding back down, for a little, if I channel a lot of my energy to my jets... but trying to support my own weight again when they're not really designed to lift anything much heavier than myself will be hard... and if I have to do it for very long, I'll rapidly exhaust myself before we even get there...

"I think I can. It depends just how far the chute goes..." Tails sounds uncertain. None of us can see how far we'll have to go in the darkness ahead.

"...If it's too far for you, I should be able to hold Sonic up for a little..." I say. It might mean I exhaust myself, but if we can just get into this place...

"What about Tails? If he needs to rest, he can't hold himself up there, either!" ...I hadn't thought of that, Sonic... I don't know why. Maybe I'm still a little tired, maybe I'm still not reacting, not thinking quite as fast as I should do... if I'm not, that could get us all killed... no, I won't let that happen! I'm not going to see anyone else die...


	35. Sonic: Here We Come!

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**-Sonic-**

I look up the darkened chute as Shadow speaks, wondering how far it is to the top, wondering if perhaps I should have brought a Chaos Emerald with me. Still, it's too late for that now.

"...If it's too far for you, I should be able to hold Sonic up for a little..."

What about Tails? If he has to stop to rest, how will he stay up? I say as much to Shadow, quietly, but still slightly surprised he hadn't thought of it.

"What about Tails? If he needs to rest, he can't hold himself up there, either!"

Shadow looks away slightly, his eyes seeming to unfocus, looking beyond some point on the grey metal wall. I can't help but wonder what he's seeing, what he's thinking. Tails cuts in, then, his voice quiet in the confines of the chute.

"I guess the only way to find out is for me to fly up there, huh, Sonic? If I can get up, I'll be able to take you, and if I can't... well, I guess we'll have to find another way... right?" That sounds almost like Tails as I remember him, and I think again just how much everyone has changed... everyone except me. I nod, flash Tails a quick grin, and give him a thumbs-up. He smiles back, and jumps, tails taking over at the very top of his jump, flying up and into the darkness, soon past my ability to see him at all, only hearing the sound of his tails spinning echo eerily back to me.

It's a long few seconds before I hear his feet sliding on the slick metal of the chute, a long few seconds before he slides back down to where Shadow and I are waiting.

"It's not far, Sonic! I should be able to get you there easily!"

"Great! Let's go!"

Our voices are low, still, but they echo slightly in the chute all the same. Tails jumps once more, and this time I jump, too, just moments behind him, catching hold of his hands. Twin tails spinning again, he lifts me up the shaft. Tails has come a long way from the lonely, almost outcast boy he was when we met, when I first took him along with me after seeing how alone he was. Seems I'm not the only one who can live without looking back, or at least without seeming to...

We're up already, a thin line of light shining around a hatch. Tails lets go of one of my hands, pushing it open and somehow managing to hold it for us as he rises through. I land sitting awkwardly on the edge, because he can't let go to rise higher, he's got to hold it for Shadow. Scrambling to my feet and releasing his other hand, I get out of the way as Shadow comes through. That mechanical arm looks so out of place against the rest of him, like...

I shake my head firmly. Shadow is Shadow, that's all, and it doesn't matter what kind of things I've been thinking I see. Looking around the empty room we're in, I see a door, a green light above it almost certainly saying it's open. Just like Eggman to leave us a convenient way in! I beckon Tails, who's quietly lowering the chute cover back into place, and walk over to it, forced to almost stand on tiptoe to reach the button set high at one side. It hisses open, and I see just what I expected to... an automated robot production line. It's quiet, not in use, the lighting dim, huge mechanical arms hovering motionless over the conveyor belts that should carry parts past them. I wonder if we should smash it up, more to annoy him than anything else; he must have plenty of places just like this. But no – we've got to get that Emerald. Maybe on the way out.

I walk to the door at the other end of this huge room and look out into a blank, grey-walled corridor, a stylised version of Eggman's round head painted at intervals along the walls.

"What happened to the street signs?" I ask sarcastically. Tails laughs, even Shadow giving a faint chuckle. I look up and down and pick a direction at random – right, just because I feel like it, and if I haven't turned too many times, it should lead us into the centre of the base. Okay, Eggman – here we come!


	36. Tails: Like Old Times

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**-Tails-**

"What happened to the street signs?"

I laugh at Sonic's sarcastic comment. It's just how he used to be, and it dispels some of the tension I'm feeling. This will go all right, like it always used to. Sonic and I are working together again, like I'd almost given up hope we'd ever be able to do! Shadow chuckles a little, too, and I look sideways and smile at him. I haven't felt this good for a long time.

Sonic looks up and down, and turns right; I wonder if he has any reason for it, or if it's just a random choice. Either way will lead us where we need to go in the end, though, and I follow him without asking. There's no real need to ask. He speeds up, running, slowly enough for him, easily slower than my own top speed, and I stay just behind him, Shadow behind me. It feels so good to be with him like this again.

We carry on for a few corridors without running into anything at all – then, as we round a corner, Sonic still in the lead, we see several robots hovering in the air ahead, sharp and dangerous blades spinning around their sides.

"He's still using these things?!" Sonic shouts even as he dashes ahead, leaping into the air, skilfully avoiding the blades of the first robot to land on top of it, curled up and spinning around, his spikes as stiff and sharp as knives, cutting through the metal easily! The robot falls to the floor in a clatter of wreckage, but by the time it hits ground Sonic's already halfway through the next one. He moves fast enough and accurately enough to rebound from every robot almost before it's begun to fall apart, and only a few seconds into the lightning onslaught, they're all gone, reduced to smouldering wreckage. Sonic lands lightly, half-turning to flash us a confident grin before he runs on, and Shadow and I follow. That was easy, easier than most fights have been for us for a long time. I don't think it'll stay this easy – but we've still got a pretty good chance!

We see more robots as we run, some powered down in alcoves awaiting activation, some active but only for a moment as Sonic dashes effortlessly ahead and destroys them in a hail of metal fragments to land again and run on. There's little for Shadow and I to do, just follow him, no need or even time for either of us to help, even though we're only moments behind Sonic. It's not long before I see signs that we're approaching the Chaos Emerald, but I almost want it to go on forever, just because I'm running with Sonic again, just like the old days.

"Sonic," I call to him, "look up ahead!"

"I see it!" he shouts back to me, and though he's facing forwards I can hear that confident grin in his voice. The big, thick door ahead looks too strong for us to break through, but I'm even better with computers and electronics than I used to be, and it should only take me a few moments to get it open. Even while I'm thinking that, we reach it, and Sonic skids to a halt, Shadow and I close behind. I walk forward, look at the huge, imposing door – designed to intimidate, although quite who I'm not certain, since he only ever uses robots – and head for the little panel with the controls. We set the alarms off almost as soon as we entered, when Sonic destroyed those first few robots, and the door's probably locked. But I don't think that should be too much of a problem.

Tapping briefly at the keypad, I see that I was right. The security locks are engaged and require a code before they'll disengage again, but I pull the panel cover off and try touching some of the wires together. I know just how keypads like this work, after all; if I can just make it register as having sent the correct signal...

...Got it! That was easy! I hear the heavy locks inside the door undoing themselves, and Sonic flashes me a grin. I smile back and bend back over the panel... touch this wire to that one... and the door starts to open! It's a big, heavy door, and it's only moving slowly, rising into the ceiling, and as soon as it's high enough, Sonic ducks and rolls under!


	37. Shadow: Deadly Twist

**_-Shadow-_**

I hear the sound of heavy bolts sliding back, the door unlocking, as Tails looks up and smiles at Sonic, who grins back. Only a little way beyond this door, we should find the Chaos Emerald. I can sense it, just a little, like a brilliant light that I don't need my eyes to see, dulled not by distance but by blurring dark curtains and a thick fog. I can't sense anything too far away from me, even if it is a Chaos Emerald, but as it is, my energy-senses tell me that it's there – just as Sonic's tell him. He and I are a lot alike in some ways, I think again. Down to our abilities, our speed, our reflexes and our sharpened senses... such a coincidence it's almost impossible to believe, but I was created and Sonic can't have been.

He ducks under the door as it begins to rise, and I hear him racing on ahead. Tails and I wait until we can walk under, Tails smiling – and then we see something that brings us both to a startled halt! This must be some kind of final guard room before wherever the Emerald is kept, and Sonic's already gone, no doubt through the open door opposite us – but one of the silent, deactivated robots there is moving, lights blinking on, guns tracking us, and Tails and I only just leap aside in time! Sonic and Tails said all of these were listed as deactivated – but it seems either one's back on-line, or this was all a trap!

I dodge again as another beam burns through the air where I was standing, dodge and duck behind one of the still-inactive robots, hoping I can fight this thing, knowing that we may not be able to defeat it. These robots are faster, tougher, and even somewhat smarter than most of his others, and we've run from them more than we've fought. If Tails and I can just hold on until Sonic gets that Chaos Emerald – but we can't do that, can't wait for him to come back, and I roll aside even as another, more powerful, blast narrowly misses me, the robot coming around the side of this deactivated one for another shot! We can't run forever, have to fight, if only to buy Sonic time – and I leap over its next shot, heading straight for it, slamming into the too-strong armour and falling back, but regaining my feet almost immediately and attacking again. If I don't find some kind of weak point... at the very least I can keep it busy for a while.

I keep up the dodging and attacking, knowing that if Sonic hadn't awoken this thing would probably already have killed me, I'd been so tired and weakened by exhaustion. As it is, it doesn't seem nearly as hard as I expected, as it once would have – but I can't seem to do any real damage, and it might only be a matter of time before I falter, and my untiring metal foe wins. Again – jump to one side, attack, dodge away once more, dashing behind the ranks of inactive robots.

Why aren't they active?! The thought strikes my mind just as I'm feeling glad they aren't. Why aren't they, too, active and trying to kill us? Fighting more than two or three of these would be next to impossible! It's almost as though... he doesn't want us dead... no, that can't be right, can't be; he's been trying to kill us all the years since this began. He must just have thought one robot would be enough to see to us, it must just be that I've recovered, that must be all – mustn't it? If not – what could he want? He can't know about Sonic! Can he?

Another shot streaks towards me, and I leap aside – too slowly – no!


	38. Amy: Where Are You, Shadow?

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**-Amy-**

Sonic's not back yet. He should be back. It feels like a long time since we returned and Blaze told us that Sonic, Tails, and Shadow had gone to try and get another Chaos Emerald. They'd thought they'd be back before we were – something must be wrong... Unless they just mistook the time they'd need. I looked at the robot listings Tails had downloaded; I can see why Sonic thought it would be safe to go. I think he might have gone anyway, though, for he's just as he used to be, before... not like the rest of us. I can't seem to stop being reminded of that, and I suppose it's not too surprising, really. But Blaze tells us it's best to stay here, and somehow, he's always right... so we've listened, we're staying. He is right, too – even if something has gone wrong, what possible purpose could our trying to help serve? Only to get us all into trouble. Sonic, Shadow, and Tails are the best fighters among us. If they can't do what they've set out to, none of us can.

I'm most worried about Shadow. I know I shouldn't be, but I can't help myself. In all the time I've known him, now... I've come to care about him, more than anyone else, though I shouldn't. But I have to be honest with myself, or sooner or later some self-deception will stretch into a miscalculation that could kill some, maybe all of us. I like Shadow... I care for him... I love him, though I don't dare to... Not like the way I used to chase Sonic around, all those years ago, seeming impossibly distant now, not like that. I'm older, I've grown up since then, since that passing phase that could never be more than that.

I've got to know Shadow well, over the years we've spent together. When nothing's happening, all there is to do is talk. Sometimes it helps us to fight the despair our situation inevitably weighs us down with. Sometimes it helps with other things as well.

Out of all of us, I know I'm the one who he's talked to most. Maybe because, when this began, I understood, if without truly knowing why or even that I knew, I had to listen to everyone, I had to understand them if we were ever to work together truly effectively... I think that's all it was, then. I sought him out and talked to him, and, little by little, he started telling me about himself. Not much, at first. While he was recovering, when Tails and I found him after Robotnik had taken part of his arm in the destruction of the Chaos Emerald, he used to talk in his sleep... I think I learned more then than he ever intentionally told me in that whole year. But perhaps Shadow came to like me, too... or perhaps he just understood that I wasn't going to go away. No... I think that he did, at least, see me as a friend. Then, maybe... ...maybe I found a way into his heart the same way he'd slowly wound up in mine...

There was one time, not really so long ago, only a year ago, maybe less, we sat together in a little room in the hideout we were using at the time, the others around somewhere, though I didn't know exactly where. We were just laying low, because Robotnik was looking for us, and those few days of complete inactivity meant that there was really nothing we could do but talk to one another. At first, it started out as nothing, really... we were talking, he asked me a few questions – not many, it's never been like him. I answered him... I don't even remember what we were talking about, he must have been asking me something about myself. Once I'd answered him, in any case, I asked him a few things, too – nothing serious or important, I already knew very well that trying to look at all deeply into his past only brought back too many painful memories for him. He'd answer, but it would hurt him. I never asked after the first time I had. But then he started telling me all about everything he could remember, quietly, slowly, just him and me while somewhere nearby robots searched for us.

His life aboard the ARK, waking up for the first time as a completely innocent 'child' who was nonetheless physically and mentally around nineteen. The few months he spent there, his deep friendship with the granddaughter of his creator... He told me that, when he was on the ARK, he'd begun to wonder what the reason for his existence was, that maybe if he went down to our world, he'd find out... He'd always wanted to see it, him and Maria both, in fact – all that either knew of it, he said, was taken from pictures, books, things like that... They both thought it must have been a wonderful place.

Then GUN came to the ARK, killing the scientists... killing Maria. They'd run, he said, hearing gunshots, voices they recognised cry out and fail, terrified. Run for the escape pods, more on instinct than anything else. Run right into a group of soldiers, soldiers who shouted after them as they turned and ran again, soldiers who shot Maria as she tried to get Shadow to safety, to Mobius. He told me how she'd spoken to him for the last time, he completely helpless, trapped in a little capsule meant mostly for experiments in space and dropping stronger things back to Mobius... she dying at the controls as he watched. She launched him towards the planet... her last words asking him to protect it... to help its people...

Shadow still doesn't remember much of what he found there, his fragmentary memories becoming few and far between after he landed, then finally vanishing completely until one day awakening back on the ARK. He doesn't think he'll ever know how he got there. All he remembers of the Mobius of the time is a city, really, that and a little trekking towards it. It was nothing like what he expected, what they had expected. He told me he grew to almost hate the people, as he lived among them, sheltering down alleys under whatever cover he could find... but then he would always remember Maria. Surely... surely she couldn't have been completely wrong? He knows he began to think that all that was good might have died on the ARK... then, it ends completely, and the next memories are continuous again, back on the ARK somehow, with Gerald.

Even then, he knew Gerald had gone insane... but it didn't seem to matter. He thought – though he probably won't ever know, and nor will I, what made him forget something so important to him, and not simply forget but misremember so completely – that Maria had wanted him to get revenge, on all the people of Mobius. Hearing him tell me that, quietly, sadly, I was shocked. How could he have believed that, reconciled it with his other memories? Just from what he told me, I could hardly imagine that she would even think something like that! But then, Shadow said his own state of mind was none too good either, barely better balanced than Gerald's. They had planned together, he said, quietly. Gerald came up with ways of destroying the world. Shadow mostly agreed that he was capable of carrying them out. So really, I suppose, Gerald had done most of the planning. In any case, Gerald returned – returned, I asked? But he didn't know. Perhaps they'd finally caught him, after the city, in whatever dark time he'd somehow forgotten. Why he'd have been sent back to the ARK with Gerald, he didn't know. At the time, he didn't care. Anyway, he said, Gerald returned him to GUN. He remembered that day clearly, mind full of hatred, of thoughts of revenge... and a fear he could never justify, never explain. He'd gone into the stasis chamber that Gerald had created for him, and there he had been trapped in suspended animation, frozen in time.

He told me quietly that it hadn't been meant to be so long, not really. They had thought he'd get out long before, GUN wanting his abilities for something. But then Gerald would have completed his plans, plans they'd not had time to prepare completely together, because GUN was demanding Shadow return to them. Again that return... they must, somehow, have caught him. Shadow quietly agreed with me. They must have.

In any case, he never did emerge, kept guarded and secure. Gerald's plans had been found out. Judging from that final recording we saw on the ARK, I'd say he was shot. It was all so final. Did my mind shrink from that thought, when I was up there, just a girl trying to help her hero out and winding up in trouble instead? I don't know, but it doesn't now.

From then, he said, I pretty much knew what happened. And I nodded, I did. He asked me, cautiously, tentatively, like he was almost afraid to hear what I'd say, if I minded if he carried on talking. I think it had just dawned on him that he'd said so much, more than he'd ever said to anyone, and he didn't even know what I'd think of it, of him, how I'd react... if I would stay or turn away...

I didn't really know what to say. I'd taken hold of his hand, without even remembering that I'd done it, while he was talking. I looked at him a moment, and gave him a smile I knew was tinged with sorrow for him. I told him he could tell me whatever he wanted, that I didn't mind at all. I didn't say the words I felt wanting to come after that. But I think he heard them anyway.

So he kept on talking, and I kept on listening. There wasn't too much more to tell, really. And then we sat together in silence for a while, and I remember realising that despite the danger of every moment while those robots were still searching, despite the awful state the world was in since Ivo Robotnik had taken control, despite everything... I was content, more than content, I was happy, in a way at least... not exactly what I would have once called happy, in the carefree way of my past, but happy nonetheless. We both were. And if we got found and we never had a chance to meet again, I knew I at least would be able to hold this in my heart for however long the rest of my life lasted, and think 'at least we had this'. Shadow trusted me with everything he was and everything he had. He'd come to trust and like me enough that he opened up to me in a way I'd never seen. And I knew I'd acted the way he'd hoped I would, was afraid I wouldn't.

I think Shadow's always been quiet and self-contained, not the outgoing kind like Sonic and the girl I'd used to be. I still was to an extent, ready to befriend anyone, but my thoughts stayed mine alone now. But after all he'd told me, it must have been hard to overcome all his reservations and fears enough to talk to me like this. It meant a lot more than his life story. He knew it, and I knew it. And I let my own walls go in return, like I'd wanted to do for a long time, but I could never quite tell what he was really thinking well enough to be sure...

So we talk a lot, Shadow and I. I tell myself I should try not to care for him so much, but it isn't that easy. Nothing ever is.

And now I don't know where he is, or how he is, and I'm worrying about him. Sooner or later I know I'll stop listening to Blaze, not heed Crossfire's fatalistically pessimistic warnings, and go after them, after him, anyway. Where are you, Shadow... where are you...?


	39. Shadow: Brush with Death

__

**-Shadow-**

I'm lying on the floor, on my side, my right leg a blaze of agony. Through pain-dulled vision, I can see the robot's metal bulk standing over me, levelling one of its guns at my head. I see Tails, on its back, trying to damage it, desperately trying to do something, anything that'll stop it, but it's taking as much notice of him as it might of a fly... there's nothing Tails can do to it. Is... is this the end...? It can't be... not now... not now, when for the first time in years we've had hope, a plan, a chance... I can't die now... it can't be over... All the times I've won... all the times I've lost... my successes, my failures... it can't end now...

My spikes keep my head facing left as I lie here, and to look up at the robot I have to look to my right. What's effectively a right hand is holding a gun only a little way away from my head... going to fire, going to end it. I can't let it, I can't just give up, not so easily, not now, but I can barely think past the pain and I don't know how I can stop this from happening... like when I lost my arm... but this time I'll die.

My arm... my metal lower arm, far stronger than my own natural one could ever have been. That strength's never been quite the asset it could be; I still can't pull on anything any harder than I could before, and if I were to try to, or to hold up anything too heavy, what's left of my own arm would break, or the metal part be torn off. The arm contains its own strength, can't extend it to the rest of me... but, maybe...

I brace the sharp tip of armour that protects my elbow against the floor, holding it there with all of my failing strength as I snap my hand up and slam it into the robot's gun, catching hold of the base of it and using all the strength my artificial wrist can provide to force it sideways. As long as the force keeps my elbow against the floor, the strength of the mechanical arm, not my own, will be able to hold the gun away – but only as long as the robot and I stay locked in this position. These ones are clever, and as soon as it works out that all it has to do is lift its gun and stop pushing against me and I'll be helpless again, it'll re-aim, fire, and end my life...

I can hear Tails almost sobbing as he struggles with it, trying with everything he can to make it stop, even make it attack him, anything to stop it from killing me, but it's paying no attention to him, trying to force my arm back so it can fire. I can feel the strain in the mechanism, and I'm afraid it'll fail altogether, that something will break. But then there's a shout, a familiar shout, in a familiar voice, and twisting blue lances of energy like a miniature whirlwind slam into the robot's back, narrowly missing Tails! He jumps away as the robot jerks around, finally reacting to something else – and I'm pulled along with it, unable to release the grip of my metal hand in time! The sudden movement and the jolt to my leg as I fall, letting go too late, nearly makes me pass out, and I hear myself scream with the pain.

I stay where I fell for a little, on my front this time, head turned to the right, my eyes shut, just trying to fight the pain and hang on to consciousness. I hear the sounds of fighting go on a little – then they stop. It's over... one way or another, it's over, and I slowly open my eyes, wanting to see what's happened, if the others are all right. Sonic's standing over me, Tails as well, concern on both their faces. I force a faint smile, try to tell them I'll be all right. Sonic says I'm right, I'll be fine... says he'll make sure of it... and, holding that Chaos Emerald we fought so hard to reach, he touches my shoulder, calls out two words – words I learned so long ago – and we vanish in a flash of power and light...


	40. Sonic: Chaos Control!

__

**-Sonic-**

I duck and roll under the door, race through the dimly-lit room, eyes flashing over the inactive robots, heading for the open door at the opposite end. The Chaos Emerald's through there; we're so close now! This has all been so easy, just like I said it would be! Why didn't Amy and the others do this long ago?! Shadow was too tired for any of this, I know, but couldn't they have just ducked out of sight for a little, given him a chance to rest?

Maybe they thought they'd already lost with the loss of the Emerald, could only delay the end. They didn't know what I'm pretty sure I do – none of them had ever noticed. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising, but it is, somehow. It seems so obvious! But people say things aren't so easy to spot when you live with them, and I guess that's true.

Dashing through the door at the end even before the other two have got into the room, I suddenly skid to a halt, turning around as I do, so for a moment I'm balanced crazily on one foot as I slide across the metal floor. The door behind me, back into that room with the inactive robots, has shut! I run back and try to open it, but I can't – and I can hear fighting from the other side! It's too thick for me to just smash my way through – my only choice is to keep going ahead as fast as I can and get that Emerald!

I race ahead, down the corridor. The power of the Emerald is like a beacon, calling me on; I can sense it. It's not far now, not far at all, and there don't seem to be any defences along this last short stretch of corridor. Doors slam closed ahead of me, the Emerald sealed on the other side, but I don't even slow down, speeding up instead, launching myself at the door and spinning, putting all my strength into this attack – I've got to get through, got to get back and help the others!

I hit hard enough to hurt myself, falling back, but as I get up I see the doors are buckled, nearly broken. Another attack should do it! I run back a little way, stop and turn, and again race towards the door in another attack – and this time, I break through!

Picking myself up from the wreckage, I see the Chaos Emerald contained in a cylindrical glass housing. I don't even need to break the glass – getting out of here is going to be a piece of cake! I race up to the glass, rest my hand on it, as close to the Emerald as I can get. I can feel its energy like a brilliant light, and remember how it feels to use that power, to call on it, make it a part of me, trading my own strength for all the blazing energy of the seven Chaos Emeralds together. Right now, though, I can't do that, and what I want is a different way of using the Emerald's power. I focus, on it, on where I want to be, and call out two words.

"Chaos Control!"

And I'm no longer there – and nor is the Emerald.

I reappear, Emerald in hand, in the room with the inactive robots – one of them's online now! Tails is on its back, but it's taking no notice of him. It's aiming at Shadow, who's lying on the floor, trying to push its gun away! Without even thinking about it, I call out again, not really needing to speak the words, but knowing they help me to focus on precisely what I want to do.

"Sonic Wind!"

Spinning lances of energy like a miniature whirlwind slam into the robot's back, narrowly missing Tails! At once, it turns to face me, and I hear Shadow cry out as he's pulled along with it, but by the time it's looking at where I was, I'm no longer there. I can't keep on using the Emerald; it takes my own strength to do that and tires me all too easily, so instead I loop around and slam into it right where I hit it before! Tails has jumped off, and while it turns in circles to try and face me, I keep attacking that same damaged point, until I break through its armour, slam through the delicate circuitry and the rather less delicate framework beneath, and destroy it!

Standing amid the wreckage, I look around for Shadow and Tails. Shadow's lying on the floor, Tails just coming out from behind a robot. I walk over to Shadow, looking down at him, Tails beside me. He opens his eyes, smiles faintly at me despite the pain he must be feeling...

"I'll... be all right, Sonic..."

"Yeah," I tell him, "you'll be fine – I'll make sure of that!" I kneel beside him, touch his shoulder; though I don't need to, it's a little easier for me. Tails realises what I'm doing and takes hold of my arm, and one last time, concentrating on the hideout, I focus...

"Chaos Control!"


	41. Blaze: Seeing What Will Be

__

**-Blaze-**

I watch Amy pacing up and down, and concentrate on what will be. It's easier now that it's closer; there are too many ways for things to happen for anything a long time from now. With every decision that's fixed, it's easier to tell what will happen. They'll be back soon, and it's best that I tell her what I'm about to. She's worried.

"They'll be back soon. He'll be all right."

She looks at me strangely, maybe wondering how I know what I do, or why I said that. She's asked me before why I say the things I do; I just shrug and tell her that that's what it's best for me to say. Crossfire has a 'yeah, right' expression, but he knows that I know what is, and doesn't contradict me. I focus back on the future. I can't tell what choices are being made, but they aren't bad ones. The three of them will appear here, in this room; Sonic must bring them using the Chaos Emerald, because Shadow will be hurt. There are still several different ways they could arrive, but as the seconds go by there are fewer and fewer, until it's almost certain exactly what will happen – and then it does.

I watch the flare of light and power as Sonic uses the Chaos Emerald to come here. It calls out to me, to my brother, and I remember seeking the one in Robotnik's tower. We feel their power, he and I, know when they are near. Until now we did not need to... but now we do. I sense, though it's too far in the future to see clearly, that before this is over our powers will have opened further, that he will have to balance on the very edge of the control I made him swear to. There are no such battles in my ever-clear path, and I do not think I can be the one to sway him from the edge. We are too much the same, my brother and I, mirror images of one another, and with our powers further unfolding even less of what we were will matter.

Somewhere in my mind, the little boy still wonders at this magnificence as he did even in all the destruction, even as the radiance begins to envelop him further...

Only a fraction of a second has passed since the flare, and the others are still reacting.

"Shadow!"

Amy rushes to his side, and Shadow smiles through his pain. She smiles back at him, and I know she knows that yet again, I was right. Sonic looks around, his glance pausing on me with a strange expression, and I realise that for a moment my eyes seemed to flash with their own inner light.

"...Well, guys, we got it!"

He holds up the Chaos Emerald he took from Robotnik. Soon, if the others survive, we will have the last two, and after that... my feelings are clouded. Is the eventual outcome not mine to see?

"And you nearly lost Shadow," my brother says scornfully. Sonic pays him no heed, knowing as I do that Crossfire can be nothing other than what he is. The others are used to him, but have never simply accepted that.

"But he didn't, and now there are just two more Emeralds to find!" Chess retorts.

"Who will we lose next time?" Crossfire asks sarcastically, and his words strike an echo within me. Before all the Emeralds are gathered, someone is going to die. I can't yet tell how, or who, or why; those are questions I can't answer until closer to the time, and when it comes, I will know what to do. As I always have. As I always will, until that nebulous time when, if the others survive to gather all the Emeralds, my feelings fade into fog...


	42. Chess: We're Going to Win!

**_-Chess-_**

When are they going to get back? It feels like they've been gone for ages! They headed out while Amy and I were gone, Blaze says, and they still aren't back. If something's happened to Sonic, what are we going to do? He's the only one who even knows just what he's going to do! He should've told Amy, at least, but I don't think even she knows just where he thinks he can find the 'destroyed' Emerald! He'd better get back...

I look around at the others. Everyone's waiting, me standing right here leaning against the wall, Crossfire sitting against it a little to my left, Blaze standing in front of him and slightly further left. Trick and Gaze are holding hands by the door, looking nervous, Amy's pacing up and down the room, and Knuckles and Rouge are standing together, a little way off from the rest of us.

"They'll be back soon. He'll be all right."

It's Blaze who said that, and I look over at him. It's always kind of odd hearing him do that, more so because I know he's always right somehow. Amy's giving him a funny look, too. I guess 'he' must be Shadow, 'cause Blaze seems to have been talking to her rather than the rest of us, and even though it's Sonic who's got us fighting back properly, everyone knows it's Shadow she cares about most.

My gaze flicks to Crossfire. Sure enough, he's got a 'yeah, right' look, just like I expected, but even he doesn't argue with Blaze. He'll argue with pretty much anyone else, though. Everyone knows everyone else's story, so I know that somehow he and Blaze survived when their house collapsed in the shockwave of the Emerald's explosion. Trick and Gaze lost their family, too, to a robot attack, I think. Me, I was out selling papers when the shockwave hit, so I was kind of wandering around lost when Amy found me. I mean, sure, I'd gone back home, but it was a wreck, and there was no-one there, so they must have already gone. I'll find them someday, when this is all over so's I don't have to worry about maybe leading Dr. Robotnik right to them. I said that to Crossfire once, and he gave me one of those cold looks of his and told me they were dead. He sounded so certain, but there's no way I'm going to believe him! It's not like he's always right like Blaze is, he just always expects the worst of everything. I don't know why; it's not as if he's had it any worse than the rest of us... Blaze is his brother, and look at how different he is. Still, I don't think anyone's ever going to figure that out... Crossfire's a mystery, and he doesn't let anyone see why. Okay, so Blaze is a mystery too, but not in the same way.

There's a flash in the centre of the room – it must be Sonic back, with Shadow and Tails! Sure enough, as soon as my eyes have cleared, I see them – but Shadow's lying on the floor, Sonic kneeling by his side, and Tails standing next to him. He's hurt!

"Shadow!"

That's Amy, running over to him. I watch concernedly, feeling pretty useless, but I'd just get in the way right now. Shadow smiles at her, even though he's hurt, and she smiles back, though it's clear she's worried about him. Sonic looks around, pausing on Blaze for a moment with a funny look, but when I look at him I can't figure out what it was that Sonic saw.

"...Well guys, we got it!" he says, holding up the yellow Emerald for everyone to see. There are relieved expressions on pretty much everyone's faces... except, of course, for Crossfire.

"And you nearly lost Shadow."

He sounds so scornful, like everything is a total waste of time. Why can't he see we're fighting back properly for once, that maybe, just maybe, we're actually going to win! Why can't he just let himself hope for once?!

"But he didn't, and now there are just two more Emeralds to find!" I retort, annoyed by his constant pessimism.

"Who will we lose next time?" he asks sarcastically.

"No-one, Crossfire! Why can't you just accept that maybe we actually have a chance to do something besides run for once?! You talk about fighting, but what's the point in fighting if you've already decided you're going to lose? Why can't you just let yourself hope for a change?" I'm getting mad now. If we all thought like him, I bet half of us would be dead already!

"Because you're only going to be disappointed. Face the facts. Even if this mad plan of Sonic's actually works, not all of us are going to see it through."

"Sure we are!" I'm not going to believe we'll die, not even if Blaze says it! We've fought this long, haven't we?!


	43. Knuckles: In With a Chance

_-_**_Knuckles_**_-_

I'm standing with Amy's resistance fighters, waiting for Sonic. Used to constantly watching out for danger, a part of me is aware of Amy's movement as she paces up and down, and I wish she'd stop... but most of my attention is focused on the squirrels, Blaze and Crossfire. Ever since I came here, I've been aware of something unusual. My senses, attuned to the Master Emerald for as long as I can remember, are telling me there's more to them than meets the eye – a lot more.

I look into their eyes. They're deep blue, identical in hue but incredibly different in every other aspect. Blaze, peaceful, innocent, yet somehow incredibly knowledgeable. Crossfire, full of burning hatred and rage, held back by some tenuous restraint. The cat, Chess, told me Blaze sometimes talked as if he knew what was going to happen next. I wonder... and I intend to ask him. I think I know what Sonic plans – and I think that Amy's resistance fighters have been in far worse danger than they believed for a long, long time. If I'm right, then I'm only surprised that they're still alive – and Blaze speaks, cutting into my thoughts.

"They'll be back soon. He'll be all right."

His voice is as calm and certain as his expression, and it's clear, at least to me, that he knows this to be true. I wonder how they could have not seen the power within them, how they could look into those impossibly ancient eyes and dismiss what they must have felt there as nothing. Not even Shadow, who I'd have expected to, seems to have noticed, only Sonic. His plan is risky... but I can't think of a better one.

There's a flash in the centre of the room, a surge of Chaos Energy, and Sonic, Shadow, and Tails appear, Shadow lying down, the other two kneeling by his side. He's hurt, but he'll live.

"Shadow!" Amy cries, running to his side. I look at Blaze again, who's completely unsurprised, and see his eyes shine for a moment with a light from within. This can't have been happening all this time, or they would have noticed. And I think I can work out why it is now...

"...Well guys, we got it!" I look to Sonic, see him holding up the yellow Chaos Emerald. Amy's fighters have just two Emeralds left to find now, and the others are all here, together with the Master Emerald. With this much power in one place, I'm certain the squirrels are reacting to it. It's bringing out their own powers...

Crossfire and Chess start to argue as I walk up to Blaze, not really paying attention to his brother.

"I think I know how Sonic plans to find the lost Emerald. Blaze, are-"

He cuts me off, his voice quiet, but with an urgent undertone to it.

"Don't ask me that, Knuckles. We must not hear what you have to say. Those futures are bleak."

I stare at him in surprise, but after a moment, it starts to make sense. If I was right, and Crossfire heard, whatever it is that restrains him might well snap. After that, I think we'd all be doomed. I nod to Blaze and turn away. He's enough Mobian still to look relieved.

Now I know what Sonic intends... and I know he might just be in with a chance.


	44. Sonic: Ghosts of the Past

**-_Sonic_-**

As soon as Shadow's recovered, we can go after the last two Emeralds. Tails says Robotnik has them both in the same place, so all we have to do is go get them! Meanwhile, though, we have to wait, and I've never been that good at waiting. It's even worse than normal, 'cause I can't so much as go blow some of those robots up! And...

There!

I haven't told anyone what I've been seeing. Not Amy, not Shadow, not even Tails. But ever since I woke up and Tails told me how long I'd been out for, things have been happening. I usually leave my past behind me, but now it won't leave me alone!

"Metal..." I say, breaking the silence of the empty room. Talking to myself, to a ghost long dead that's haunting me again. Superimposed across Shadow's face, red eyes a near-perfect match, standing silently and watching, flying alongside as I run... fragments of images, appearing for an instant and gone again as though they never were. Here, alone, I ask myself what's happening to me...

Maybe I should tell Tails. I don't know what good it would do, though. He'd probably think I was going crazy, and I need everyone to listen to me. I don't like admitting it... but I'm not sure I can do this on my own. I need them, and I need them to trust me.

What if they shouldn't?

I stand up and shake my head. This is silly! I don't normally think like this! I just need to get out of here, that's all it is; I've been sitting around way too long! I'm going to go check on Shadow. I can't keep just sitting around like this!

Crossing to the door, I open it, seeing my own distorted reflection in its glass panels. On the other side, it almost looks as if someone's standing there, looking at me, my green eyes over –

"Leave me alone!"

I've had enough of this! Slamming the door shut behind me, hard enough that I hear the glass shake in its frame, I race off. I don't know where I'm going, and I don't care, either! I pass Chess as I run, already moving fast enough that I only just glimpse the surprised expression on her face. Racing out of the building with the wind trailing in my wake, I don't know or care where I'm going, what will happen... because I'm free...

I don't know how long I run for. It could be minutes, it could be hours. I lose myself in the rush of the wind, and when I eventually stop, worn out, I have no idea where I am. For the moment, though, it doesn't matter. I sink to a sit against a metal wall and close my eyes. When I open them and look left at the wall, all I see is my own dulled reflection. At last! Heh, I knew all I needed to do was get out and do something!

Wait... what? What's that?

Standing up again, I walk cautiously to the end of this narrow alley between one of Egghead's buildings and an old ruin. What's out there?

What the- hey!

* * *

Eheheh... man, has this been a long time in coming. Blame Writer's Block, busyness, and sheer laziness. Sorry, everyone!  



	45. Amy: Doesn't He Realise?

_-Amy-_

"Um... Amy?"

I look up from where I'm sitting, on a chair by Shadow's bed, thinking about a future I've started to believe in again. Thinking that maybe one day, all of this will be over, that maybe one day we can all live normal lives again, even imagining how that life might be... but she's broken the spell, and the dream is gone.

"What is it, Chess?" She looks uncertain, a little worried. What's bothering her? Nothing much should have been happening – we're all just lying low now, trying to remain undetected until Shadow recovers. Nobody should be doing anything, beyond keeping watch. Has something gone wrong?

"Well, you said nobody should go out, right? Did you change your mind?"

What? No, of course I didn't! But why would Chess want to go out there anyway? She knows we're not ready to take Eggman on again just yet, and there's nothing else to do – we don't need supplies or anything...

"No... why?" I ask her.

"Well, Sonic ran past me a little while ago, and I'm pretty sure he went out. At first I just figured maybe you'd told him to go do something, but then Blaze just walked up to me and said 'She didn't'. I never said anything to him – I swear he's getting even more strange than he used to be!"

Sonic? Gone out! No way! We're supposed to be lying low, for goodness' sake! I made sure I told him that! Doesn't he get it? This isn't like it used to be, it's not a game any more! Robotnik rules the world now, and there's nowhere left to run to! He could get himself killed, or worse, all of us! I don't really listen to what she's saying about Blaze. He's always been more than a little strange, and with Sonic run off, that's hardly my primary concern right now.

"Uh... Amy?"

I shake my head and look back at her.

"No, I told him to stay here, like everyone else."

"Well, we've gotta go after him, right?"

It's a difficult thing for me to say... but I have to. I don't see what other choice we have. All we'll do if we start looking for him now is make it easier for us to be found and captured.

"No, Chess. He could be anywhere by now. We'll just have to trust he can get himself out of whatever he gets into... the more of us there are out there, the more of us can get caught."

Next to me, Shadow opens his eyes. Our voices must have woken him up. Shadow doesn't always sleep easily... I feel a little guilty for waking him.

"Amy... what's happened?"

"Sonic's left. We don't know where he's gone... but he'll be fine. No doubt he'll come back soon enough." I hope... and Shadow looks worried. "He can take care of himself, Shadow. I can't endanger everyone else... we don't even know where he is."

Shadow nods, slowly. I know he understands, he just doesn't have to like it any more than I do. What did Sonic have to go and run off for? Doesn't he realise that things have changed since he woke up? Doesn't he realise how serious this is? Doesn't he know that this isn't the world he remembers...?


	46. Shadow: Echoes of Fear

_-**Shadow**-_

...Maria...

She's standing next to me, and we're looking out of the window...

"What do you think it's like down there, Shadow?"

"It's..."

I don't know what to say to her. It's beautiful, everything we thought it would be and more, and yet...

My leg hurts. I look down. For a moment, I see my scars showing through my fur, scars I've been constantly aware of over the past few weeks. Past few weeks? Maria, where have I been? I can't say anything. I don't know why. The beauty I remember is fading from my mind, and Maria looks at me, concerned.

"Shadow...?"

I shake my head. What's wrong with me? And I hear voices, voices calling me away, and Maria's drifting away from me...

I blink several times, waking up. Amy and Chess are talking by the side of my bed. They look worried... what's going on?

"Amy... what's happened?"

"Sonic's left. We don't know where he's gone... but he'll be fine. No doubt he'll come back soon enough." She pauses, more worried than she's trying to sound. "He can take care of himself, Shadow. I can't endanger everyone else... we don't even know where he is."

I nod... but I realise I'm afraid, too, more so than Amy. I sit up, slowly, and lift my good arm. Brushing the fur back with the metal fingers of my left hand, I look at the old scars underneath it. I don't know how I got them, where they came from – they've been there almost as long as I can remember. The only time I didn't have them was... was when I was still on the ARK, with Maria. As shrouded in the mists of my past as ever, they only serve to increase my fear. Fear for myself, though I don't know why, and for Sonic, a friend I thought I'd lost long ago.

Amy sits down next to me, just close enough that the fur of her arm brushes mine. She's seen these scars before, knows as much about them as I do... knows whatever secrets they hide still scare me. I give her a faint smile, but the shadows across my mind don't lift. I feel cold...

"Shadow...?"

Amy lifts my metal hand away from my arm, and my short fur falls back into place, hiding the scars beneath.

"He'll come back, Shadow. He's Sonic. He always comes back."

I nod, try to bury my fear with whatever part of the past it came from, but whatever happened to me, whatever it is that I still don't remember, still haunts me. After all this time, I don't think it will ever go away.


	47. Sonic: Reflected Once Again

_-**Sonic**-_

"Hey!"

I shade my eyes against the sudden light. The moment I got to the end of this alley, some stupid robot shone a searchlight in my face! I can't make much out in the glare, just some vague blobs. Blinking rapidly, I try and force myself to see, and they slowly resolve into a handful of robots. I haven't seen some of them before, but they don't look like anything special – this should be easy!

"Surrender."

Typical robots!

"Make me!" I retort, dropping into a fighting stance. They aren't gonna stand a chance!

"Command accepted."

Huh? Either Egghead's been messing with their responses, or these ones are broken somehow! Either way, they- what! There's one behind me! I didn't even hear it, but it's got hold of my arm! I pull away, fast, smooth metal fingers sliding across my arm, but there's no robot that can react fast enough to stop me! I go for the ones in front first, slamming into the one on the left, then the closest one to that, not looking back even for a moment, spinning so fast I'm mostly relying on my energy-senses to aim with rather than my sight. I loop around the five in front, vaguely aware of the clatter of broken parts behind me as I slam through each one, spin back for the one with the searchlight, then... stop? There's nothing else there! Where'd the robot behind me go! No robot can move that fast! I look about, staring at the tops of buildings on my right and ahead, the rubble on my left... but there's nothing there.

Wait – was that a movement, over there in the shadows? It's hard to tell; it's night, the sky that dark blue it goes a while before sunrise, the only real light around here coming from the broken moon.

"Come out!"

My voice echoes among the lifeless buildings, but I don't see anything. I turn, slowly, all the way around, searching every shadow for anything that could possibly be that robot, whatever it was... but there's still nothing.

"-Ah!"

Something slams into me from behind, and I'm knocked forward, sliding across the pavement, across the shards of metal and glass it's littered with. I scramble to my feet as soon as I come to a halt, ignoring the cuts and scrapes I've picked up and pushing the shock to the back of my mind, searching for whatever just hit me. There's a sound, like a really quiet engine, to my right; I duck and roll forward before even looking to see what it is, and I actually feel the wind as it shoots through the space I was in! Picking myself up again, I catch a glimpse of my attacker as it loops away...

No! It can't be! It – it looks like... like Metal! But it can't be!

No… no, it's not him. I'd know if it was him, I'd-!

I'm knocked flat again, scraping across the rubble and slamming into a wall. I get back to my feet, shaking my head to try and clear it, but it doesn't do any good. I see him – it – coming around for another strike, and I wait, wait for less than a second, but for me it seems like forever. I've sped up now, really fighting, my thoughts flashing by faster than anyone else's ever could as my entire body goes into overdrive. In the last possible instant, I dodge aside, and the robot slams into the wall right where I'd been standing. Faster than most people could follow, I leap off the ground and spin into its back, once, twice – and then it pulls away, and I slam into the wall!

Uncurling and dropping – so slowly! – to the ground, I see it swooping in yet again; looks like I haven't damaged it that much. I jump right over it as it flashes towards me; it swerves up, just brushing me as we fly past each other, but at this speed even the lightest touch is enough to send us both flying! I'm out of control, try to right myself in the air, but there's no time-

Wham!

I shouldn't have tried to straighten up, should have stayed curled. I don't know what I just hit, think I'm falling… no, not falling, stopped falling, hit ground now. Ground... I straighten my right arm, try to feel about... something, something broken, pieces all over the floor. And that robot, it must still be out there... I force my eyes open, try to ignore the pain in my head, try to concentrate as if that will make the two worlds I can see coalesce into one. Wall, a hole, stars... I went through a _wall_? ...Silhouette, red eyes – red eyes! I jump to my feet, never mind the pain, and can only stagger sideways, my head spinning, but it seems to be enough, because I hear a thud right where I just was. Got to speed up again, got to get a hold of myself, keep on fighting, but all I can do is cross to the hazy, blurred wall and lean on it...

I can hear it, hear the sound of the jet built into its back, and I duck, or at least fall over, as it flies by just overhead – and I'm jerked sideways, my right ear feeling like it's on _fire_!

I pick myself up again, slowly, see the robot standing just a few metres away. It's holding something, and I raise my hand to my head. That- that hurts! I look at my glove, already dirty, now streaked with blood as well. It took the tip of my ear!

I stare at it for a few moments, and it stares back like a warped reflection. Only one of us is going to make it out of this... and it's going to be me!

I feel myself speeding up again as I shift to a battle-ready stance, my head finally clear enough that I'm ready to fight again. The robot suddenly snaps into action, coming for me, but I jump to the side and it passes me by. While it's turning, I dash out through the hole in the wall – the building's too enclosed; I can't move so well in there. I only have to watch the hole for a few seconds before it comes out after me; this time, I jump sideways and up, rebounding from the wall and chasing it! The wall falls in behind me, but I'm moving so fast I only touch it for the tiniest fraction of a second, and I've sped up so much that the falling bricks seem as if they're moving through treacle, so very, very slow. Air is more like liquid at this speed; you have to cut through it, can even almost push off it with a little help. I do that now, the natural energy flowing through and around me letting me slice through the air, even track my foe, racing along its trail the way only I can. I can't see; my eyes are closed even if I wasn't spinning as fast as I am, but I can feel it, and I know I'm close-

I slam into it as it slows, sending it flying. Uncurling and dropping to the floor, the energy around me fading again, I watch it fly back and hit a pile of rubble. That was fairly fast, even sped up as I am; it'll have damaged it! I dash over, intending to finish it before it can get up again, but it's too fast, and as I get there it zooms out of the rubble – and right into me!


	48. Tails: No!

_-**Tails**-_

Sonic's been gone way too long. Nobody's saying it, but I know they're all worried about him. I'm worried about him. I know Sonic used to run off sometimes, but not like this, never when things were this serious! I don't even know what he was thinking. Why'd he run away? Sonic, I don't understand...

I can hear footsteps coming up behind me. It sounds like Amy. Shadow's feet always click on a hard floor because of the metal of his jet boots, so it can't be him. They're too light to belong to a human, and Blaze and Crossfire both move almost silently. Chess' steps are different again, too.

"Tails?"

"Yeah, Amy?" It's nice to know I was right, I guess, but it's really not that hard to work out.

"I want you to get into Robotnik's network. It's been too long – we have to find out if something's gone wrong, if he's been caught."

"You got it, Amy!" I wanted to do this half an hour ago! That's why I've been sitting here at this computer all this time! At least she's letting me do it now, I guess. The computer's already up and running, and the first thing I do whenever we find a new base is always to set up a way of linking to Eggman's network. All I have to do is get myself in, and that's fairly easy!

Amy watches over my shoulder as I type in commands, hacking into the world network. I hear another set of footsteps coming in, clicking on the floor and limping a little, so it's Shadow this time. Amy moves a little. I guess maybe she's looking at him, but I don't look to find out, concentrating on what I'm doing. My heart sinks the moment I'm in; the network is in a state of full alert. Sonic's been seen, if nothing else...

I go through higher and higher levels of security, getting closer and closer to whatever Robotnik himself must be seeing right now. I'm all too aware I could be detected any moment, but I have to find out what's going on – and then I find something, patrol files flagged as urgent.

**Patrol 521**  
Directive: Patrol area 115B.  
Threat Protocol: Standard.  
Status: Malfunction.  
Last Report: Engaging threat.

**Recon Hunter 5**  
Directive: Observe patrol areas 115A-P.  
Threat Protocol: Neutralise and retrieve subject to advanced situational analysis.  
Status: Active, recalled. Medium damage sustained. Functionality level 68 percent.  
Last Report: The target responsible for the elimination of Patrol 521 shows a 100 percent correspondence in all observable characteristics to previously inactive target "Sonic". Target has been neutralised. Returning with target.

No! He- he can't have been caught, he just can't! He must have escaped somehow, he must have! Robotnik can't have caught him! He can't... but he has... ...we've gotta go rescue him! Galvanised back into action, I search for anything relating to Sonic, find a Priority One video feed, access it...

Sonic's image comes up on my screen. He looks beaten, exhausted. The tip of his right ear is missing, and he looks like someone's dragged him across broken glass. There's a robot holding his arm, a robot that looks like him, and Robotnik's there too, laughing at him...


	49. Amy: How Could It Go So Wrong?

_-**Amy**-_

I stare over Tails' shoulder in disbelief. Robotnik has Sonic! My fragile dreams start to fall around me even as part of me tries to evaluate the situation. Maybe there won't be a tomorrow after all, maybe there'll never be a time we can stop fighting...

Snap out of it, Amy! That's what Sonic would tell me, and he'd be right, too! I can't just give up like that; he's already shown me that's one reason we were losing before! I try and get control back, focus on analysing what I can see. Most of Sonic's visible injuries look pretty superficial, which is a little better. I've seen him fight enough times, know he can get pretty knocked around and still recover fast... if the worst that really happened was that robot knocking him out, then he should be all right, at least for the moment.

"..._Murderers_..."

With a shock, I realise that's Shadow's voice, only not like I've ever heard it before! I turn, look at him... stare at him. His expression's shifting into something hard, cold, distant, something I can barely even recognise. I've never seen him like this before, and suddenly I don't even know who he is. My Shadow, the Shadow I know, is quiet, a little sad, reserved, often a little awkward in company, afraid to care in case he loses someone again. The Shadow I see in front of me now is cold and uncaring, a terrible determination in his eyes. He turns and walks out without a word, and every step echoes the expression on his face, unstoppable and chillingly deadly. All I can do is stare after him, shocked into silent immobility.

It's Tails who snaps me out of it, a few moments later.

"Amy? Amy, what should we do?"

I don't know, but I can't tell him that. I look again at the screen, etching the image into my mind.

"Find out where Sonic is, then get out of Robotnik's systems," I reply after a moment, somehow managing to sound calm, though I'm anything but. Sonic's been captured, and now Shadow's gone, maybe in more ways than one.

Tails nods and goes back to his work, and I stand in silence, staring into space and trying to work out what's happening. How could everything have gone wrong so suddenly? And what's wrong with Shadow? What could have done this to him? It must be what he saw, but we've seen worse than that before now. Why would Shadow have reacted like that? Because it was Sonic? Or because of something else?

I think about Sonic. He didn't really look seriously hurt; beyond whatever happened to his ear, it was nothing that would last. I don't know if Shadow saw that, though, don't know what he's thinking at all. Like the rest of us, he's been on edge since Sonic ran off, but that's not enough to account for this!

But he _hasn't_ been quite like the rest of us. True, he's been worried and on edge, but in a slightly different way, as if there was something in particular he was afraid of. And the one thing he said, it was all wrong to have been about Robotnik... there's only one thing I can think of that would put that much pain and hatred in his voice, even after everything Robotnik's done. G.U.N. are long gone, of course, destroyed with the other military forces of the world, but I know Shadow will never forget what they did on the ARK. It's as if he saw something to do with them when he looked at Robotnik, but I don't know what it could have been. There wasn't anything much in the background, just a computer console a little to the right, a blank metal wall... and all there was in the foreground was Sonic, Robotnik, and the robot. So what am I missing? What could any of that mean to Shadow?

I won't work it out by staring at my mental image. I've got to think about Shadow, try and think of anything that could have any bearing on all this. Why was he afraid the moment he knew Sonic was gone? What's Shadow scared of?

He's afraid of losing people. But we're all afraid of that, one way or another. What else? What else scares him? Things he doesn't know why...

Right after he heard Sonic was gone... those scars of his. He doesn't know where they came from, but I know they scare him. They're all fairly small, scattered across his body just about anywhere I've ever had to brush his fur back. Shadow's told me before that the only time he can remember not having them is before G.U.N. came to the ARK. I wonder if they could have something to do with it – and how he could have got them.

"I got it, Amy!"

Tails' voice cuts into my thoughts, but I almost welcome the distraction.

"Good. Shut down and call up the others – no, wait, I'll do that."

I lean over and pick up the microphone, activating the intercom system Tails installed here.

"Sonic's been captured, and we're going after him. Trick, Gaze, you take care of the hideout while we're gone. Everyone else, meet me at the main entrance, now!"

I wonder whether or not Knuckles and Rouge will come. They volunteered to help, but they're not a part of our group; I don't know them, and I can't really give them orders, either. I hope they do, though... we can use all the help we can get.

And part of me wonders if I'm not sending us all to our deaths, if my feelings for Shadow are clouding my judgement, if this is the last decision I'll ever make...


	50. Sonic: Nothing I Can Do

_-_**_Sonic_**_-_

"Uhhh..."

Wh...what...? What... what happened...?

_Don't you know?_

My eyes snap open, and I jump to my feet, only to collapse again as the room spins around me. Could – could it have been...?

No, of course it couldn't. He's dead. But...

Images replay before my eyes as I stare at my own dull reflection in the metal floor, only hazily aware of my injuries, of my torn ear. Past and present whirl in my head until I can barely separate one from the other. Metal, slamming into me, throwing me back; me, chasing him as we race for the future of our world. Knocked down, sliding across broken glass; remembering moments from my own unconsciousness through Metal's eyes. That voice in my mind, my voice and not, red eyes looking into my own. Red eyes, blue metal, red eyes, black fur. My reflection, twisted by smoothly curved metal. Delicate-seeming yet deadly metal, echoed again in Shadow's left arm, calling Metal back to my mind from so long ago...

And now he's here...

No! No, this isn't Metal! I've fought plenty of robots that looked like me. Only one of them was ever Metal, Hyper Metal Sonic... only one of them was ever different.

Only one of them could ever have been anything else...

I shake my head and twitch my ears, almost welcoming the pain. It brings me back to the moment, and that's all I care about, all I'll ever let myself care about. Standing up again, slower this time, I look around myself. There's nothing, really, just an empty room, walls, floor, and ceiling plain metal, my bloodied reflection mocking me as it stares back from every wall. It looks... haunted...

I shake my head again. It's over, Sonic, _over_! It's part of the past now, same as everything else! I'm not _like_ this, what's behind me _stays_ behind me! It's just been harder than normal since I woke up, that's all!

Hey... hey! The door's open! When did that happen! I start for it in the same instant as something grabs my arm from behind, and I whirl, find myself looking into glowing red eyes, reflecting my green ones, and I remember...

I remember reaching down... I remember my hand being knocked aside...

And I stumble as the robot jerks me forward, pulling me out of the cell. This is crazy; I've got to stop this! I do my best to focus on what's happening, on the walls, on the floor, where I'm headed, what I'm going past, and it seems to work, at least mostly. I just try not to look at the robot, or at our reflections. Trying to see everything as I walk by it, I don't notice what's coming up ahead until we actually walk in. It's some kind of control room – and Eggman's there, standing in the centre of it, waiting for me!

"Ahh... if it isn't my old friend, Sonic!"

"Hey, Egghead! I-"

"Silence! You will call me Emperor Robotnik!"

"Whatever you say... Egghead!" I snap back. No way am I ever going to call him that! Heh, looks like it's annoying him, too!

"You won't be so insolent when you witness your friends' destruction, hedgehog!"

"Huh, there's no way you could get them! You've been trying for years, and you couldn't even finish me off!"

He glares at me. I act like I couldn't care less, like this is all a game, but somewhere deep down, I'm more than a little worried. And what if... but no. No, there's no way I'm going to lose! No way they're going to!

"I can now, thanks to you, Sonic!"

What! No... no, he can't have! He... can't. I twist to look at the robot, and it looks back impassively. He can't have copied my mind, like he did before, can't have...

"What do you mean!"

"After you so kindly collected the Chaos Emeralds for them, Sonic, I've been able to target their exact location! And now you're here, it's time to finish them off once and for all!"

What – no! _No!_ I struggle desperately, but the robot's too strong for me, and I can't pull away. He can't – he can't do this! I can't let him! It can't be over...

I stop struggling in the end, look down at the floor. It is over... and there's nothing I can do but listen to him laugh...


	51. Crossfire: My Own Path

_-**Crossfire**-_

Shadow. I _feel_ him coming, feel his shadow, and look up, tracking his hatred, his fear, his pain, condensed into that small, improbably strong form. I see, see without seeing, him walking closer. He doesn't need to walk fast; he's got all the time in the world. His strength is my strength. His strength is the anger, and the fury, and the pain this mockery of life has left him with.

How do I see him, I ask myself, looking at the wall, through the wall to where a part of me can feel him. It doesn't make sense. A lot of things don't make sense any more.

"How do I see him, little brother?"

Hah. For once, I actually surprised him, at least a little. His head whips around, and he stares at me with that funny expression.

"You see him because what he is now is your power."

Of course... of course. His rage, his hatred, his pain; those are his, those are mine. The darkness is mine, and what is mine is... his? Now I'm confused, and I don't have to like it. What is he? What is he that I somehow know he can take my fury and make it his? What's happening to me?

"Do you remember when we played in the park together?"

And what's that about? Of course I remember, I remember everything - everything we _lost_. Didn't he _notice_?

"Of course I remember, but in case you hadn't noticed, little brother, that park is now a wasteland, just like everything else!"

But of course he knows that. And that last shred of me that still holds me to my word asks me why he asked me that, even though the rest of me doesn't care. He is my equal, my opposite, my counterpart. He sees, while my vision is clouded, and he's kept it that way, and I've let him, and some part of me is still holding on to that promise... some part of me fast sinking beneath my rising fury.

Shadow rounds the corner as Amy's voice cuts the air. I don't listen, don't need to, watch him instead. He's not even limping, stronger than he looks, stronger than he thinks, more pain in his past than a single shot. Scars beneath his fur flash in my eyes like cracks that radiate the hatred I saw in him, and though the light doesn't actually show them to me through that black and red fur, I could trace every one. My head turns to follow him as he passes us by without even a glance.

"I wait for Amy," little brother says to me, and I nod, accepting his knowledge of what is. But for once, he didn't say anything about me...

"And me, little brother?"

"You follow your own path now," he answers. "It is close to the end of my vision, and they must decide what end that will be. We will both be there."

The end of his vision? That's not what I wanted to hear, almost disconcerting to hear little brother say he can't see, say there's something he doesn't know, doubly so after him guiding us both for so long. Not what I say, though, never what I say, not since so long ago...

"Huh, knew I'd see the day you failed."

He nods, and looks up at me with a strange expression. Takes me a moment to realise why it's strange – it's a child's expression, nothing like I've seen on him since that day of destruction, the day we both grew up.

"Be careful, okay?"

And he hugs me, something else he hasn't done since then, and if he were anyone else or it were any other time I'd have shoved him off and swatted him, but this one time I let him, because he can't see much further than here, because I know something's coming too, because just for a moment a part of us both that's fast getting buried has got control. I put my left arm around him, ruffle the fur between his ears with my right hand.

"I will." I know he doesn't mean about fighting, know he's talking about my choices, and for the first time for a long time he's not telling me what's best, just asking me, for him. And that's why I'll try...

Then I let him go, and he lets me go, and I turn away and follow Shadow, running to catch up with him. I don't look back, but I know what I'd see if I did, little brother looking after me... watching me go...


	52. Shadow: Darkness Unveiled

_-**Shadow**-_

Maria...

It's dark, cold... where are you, Maria...?

_They killed her_.

I remember... oh, I remember...

They will not harm Sonic... I won't let them. Not him, not me, not again. Even if he is already there.

_I'll kill them._

What I forgot, I now remember... everything they did to me.

I fell from the ARK in the capsule, landed somewhere in the countryside. I didn't know how to survive on my own, so I headed for a city. It wasn't what I expected. Nothing was what I expected...

_They don't deserve to survive..._

Buildings pass me by, grey and broken ruins on every side. It's almost a match for the darkness in my mind.

The city was divided into two sections, one for the humans, one for everyone else. They thought they were so much better than everyone else, so much better than me. I remember being afraid, remember having nowhere to go... remember running from people, knowing the murderers who came to the ARK would still be after me. And they were still after me... they came for me...

_I'll kill them..._

I don't stop walking, ignoring the pain in my leg. It's nothing compared to what I've felt before. Crossfire's behind me; I noticed him earlier... but I don't care. My gold bracelets are too restrictive, close on my wrists, as if they could hold me. Still walking, I unclip one, push up my glove, and examine the scar beneath, one I caused fighting to break free.

The bracelets remind me of my twin purposes. They were a gift, from my life on the ARK.

_Give them a chance to be happy..._

They restrain me.

_I'll kill them... all of them..._

"Shadow!"

It's behind me. It's familiar... I know that voice. It's Amy. Pulling my glove back down over my wrist and clipping my bracelet back around it, I glance over my shoulder to see her running to catch up, her and the others. My slow, deliberate walk doesn't even falter as I look ahead again.

There are still good people in this world... her, Sonic, Tails, the resistance... but not there. Not where Sonic is. Not through that screen.

_Murderers..._

"Shadow, what are you doing!"

My voice is cold and calm as I reply.

"I'm going to stop them."

"Shadow, who are 'they'? GUN? GUN was destroyed along with everything else when Dr. Robotnik took over!"

I hear her words, but they don't mean anything to me. They have Sonic. And after what they did to me, I will not let them go.


	53. Amy: Shadow, My Shadow

_-**Amy**-_

I walk behind Shadow. He doesn't appear to be moving fast, but I keep having to run to catch up. I've tried talking to him, and he hears, but he won't listen... it's as if there's some kind of invisible wall between us, as if everyone and everything has been shut out, as if we're in different worlds. I think if I ran in front of Shadow now, if I was lucky, he'd brush me aside... if I wasn't, he'd ignore me and keep on walking. I've known him so long, and I never saw this in him... never...

I speed to a run again, feeling like a child being left behind. Crossfire seems to be perfectly able to keep up, walking alongside Shadow as if it were his natural position, but I can't.

I thought I knew him so well... and I suppose I did. We both knew there were still veils over his past, things neither of us could see – but why this? It's as if whatever has come back to him has erased everything, everything except the drive for vengeance that burned in him when we first met, only this time I can't stop it, can't stop him. And I don't even know why! I don't know why, because he won't tell me and I'm afraid to ask him, afraid he'll turn on _me_ next, on _us_! How can I possibly be afraid of Shadow like that!

Calm _down_, Amy, I say to myself, trying to calm my thoughts, to at least get my mind in some semblance of order. I'm in charge; I have to be in control. Everyone depends on me. And that's another reason why this scares me... because I'm out of control now, and all I can do is follow Shadow. Because there's a little voice in the back of my mind telling me that maybe it's wrong to bring everyone, wrong to go at all, that I should turn back, order the others to turn back, and leave Shadow... leave Shadow to walk to his death. But I can't do that... so I'm trying to turn this into a rescue mission, a mission to save Sonic. To my own ears, every word, every thought, is hollow. I know what I'm doing, and it's not to save Sonic. I'm putting us all in danger because I can't bear to let Shadow go, because I can't stand to look away and let him die.

I knew I should never have let myself become so attached to him, and so did he. But it's hard, so hard, when there's nothing left to keep you going, when your hope is so faint that not even you can see it, when the world seems so empty and so unbearably hostile, when you know you'll die without changing a single thing. When... when we begin to despair, any of us, we find strength and hope in one another. With the possible exception of Blaze – does he ever even feel doubt? – and Crossfire – does he even know what hope is? – everyone looks up to me. They find their strength in mine... and when I have none of my own, when I can't see anything worth continuing the hopeless fight for, I fight on anyway for them, and most of all for Shadow.

But now he's changed, and it's as if my feet have been knocked out from underneath me. I don't know what's best any more. I'm afraid I'm making the wrong decision... but I can't let him go alone. I – I can't, I just can't.

I try to turn my thoughts away from my own problems. You made the decision, Amy; you can live with it later, but for now, it's been made. No going back.

If I'm to lead us now, if I'm going to get us through this, I have to know what's wrong. I have to know why, and I have to know how. I have to know so I can deal with it. So I can plan around it, compensate for it, so I can try to help... and so I can try to keep us all alive. And so... so I know that my Shadow is still in there somewhere...

It was seeing Sonic that triggered it. It has to have been. There's nothing else that makes sense. The moment he knew Sonic was gone, he was afraid for him. Those scars of his – he kept thinking about them. I remember clearly, right after he woke up and I told him Sonic had gone missing, lifting his hand away from his arm, trying to reassure him.

Sonic's injuries, minor though they are, Shadow's scars... Sonic's torn ear, the way Shadow's always flinched away from anyone touching his ears, even me...

Oh, Shadow... no…

Somebody hurt him once, more than I ever knew... and now he's going to strike back...

Shadow, my Shadow... is this why you turned on the world...?


	54. Tails: I'm Coming, Sonic!

_-_**_Tails_**_-_

Sonic... I'm coming, Sonic! That's all I can think as we race through the corridors, following Shadow. The minute the base came into view, he started running, and I really think if it wasn't for Amy shouting at him he'd have left us all behind by now. Shadow skids around a corner, and I'm only just behind, using every trick I ever learned to keep up. There's robots up ahead – I drop my feet to the floor and skid across the slick metal, then kick off with my right foot as I near them, spinning around and around. They don't aim at me for the first few moments, too busy trying to shoot Shadow. I hear parts fall in a clatter, but I'm spinning way too fast to make sense of what I'm seeing! My balance shifting, I dip my head and push off with a hand instead of my right foot, keeping up the spin and keeping on moving forwards, or what used to be forwards – there! I've hit the first of the robots, the tips of my tails moving a lot faster than I am, since they're further from my body, and backed up by the natural energy I've learned to control to some extent, or I'd likely break them on the metal of robot legs. The impact's enough to break the shoddily-constructed robots, and parts fly everywhere as I keep moving forward, cutting a line through them. At least... I think it's a line.

I stop hitting things, and I'm glad of it. I've gotta stop; I can't keep this up any more. Used to be I could go on like this for ages and ages without getting too dizzy, but even though we're a resistance force, I haven't done half as much fighting like this as I used to, back before all of this happened. I let myself slow down and stop, kneeling with one hand on the floor and looking behind me. There's what's left of the robots, a couple still functioning, the rest so much scrap metal. Getting up, I look forwards to see Shadow already racing off, and I run after him, my tails taking over as I pick up speed until my feet aren't touching the ground any more. I've got to stay with him!

Shadow speeds up even more, and I put all my strength into keeping up with him. Even so, he keeps on getting ahead of me, but there's so many robots in here, he can't keep it up, has to keep slowing to break through them. That's all that lets me stay anywhere near him.

But when I look back, I realise I can't see Amy or anyone else behind us any more...

"Shadow!" I call to him, shouting as loud as I can. "Shadow, you've gotta stop! You've left Amy and the others behind!"

If he hears me, he doesn't do anything about it.

"Shadow! You've left Amy behind! She's in danger!"

Shadow turns off his jet boots. His feet instantly fall to the floor, and he skids along it with a screech of metal, turning as he does so that when he stops, he's facing me. There's an awful look in his eyes, a look of anger, pain, and fear. I've never seen his face this way before today. I don't know what he's thinking, but telling him Amy was in danger at least seems to have got his attention. I don't want to do this, but I've got to make him go back _somehow_...

"Amy's in danger, Shadow! If you don't get back there and help her, she could be killed!"

For a moment, Shadow looks utterly helpless, like a little child. Then he runs past me as if I wasn't even there. I turn around and fly after him as fast as I can. What else can I do?


	55. Chess: Cursed Mission

_-_**_Chess_**_-_**_  
_**

"I think this mission's cursed," I mumble to myself. From the minute we set out, things have been going wrong. First off, Sonic was captured, which is kind of the whole point of all this, but even so, it counts. Then Shadow seems to've gone crazy, and I don't know what in the world is wrong with him. Blaze is even quieter than usual, and Crossfire has this funny set look to his face, like he's decided this is his last fight and he's going to make it a good one. And Amy, she's not acting right, either. It's partly Sonic being caught, but I think it's mostly Shadow. She's always been our leader, always been the strong, capable one, always given us hope and a goal and told us what to do, but now she seems like she's only faking it, and she doesn't know what she's doing any more!

Well, okay, so she does know what she's doing. But what she's doing is chasing Shadow around through this place! We don't know where we are or where we're going, and we haven't even stopped to try and find out! Until now, anyway, and that's only because Shadow and Tails have got so far on ahead we can't see or hear them any more!

Amy looks over her shoulder at me. She's standing at a console, frowning as she tries to access Eggman's systems. Tails ought to be here; that's what he's good at!

"What was that?"

"Uh, nothing... nothing at all," I answer. We're in enough trouble as it is... I know I don't need to make it any worse. Amy's got to be able to think straight to get us out of here, right? And Sonic, too. All of us, and Sonic. So long as we keep our heads, we should be fine, right?

But something makes me glance to my right... and I see Blaze, looking right at me. Those blue eyes hold such an ancient sadness that it shocks me to the core. I stare straight at him for once, and he stares back, and I can't look away. He _knows_, knows I was right when I said this mission was cursed, knows something is going to happen – and he's not going to do a single thing to stop it! I've never believed him when he said he always knew how things were going to happen, but now I do, and I bet he knows a whole lot more besides! I bet he could get us out of this!

And his brother... what does that make him? I force myself to look away from Blaze and turn my head left instead to see Crossfire, back to the wall by the corner of the junction just behind us so he can see down all the corridors and make sure nothing's sneaking up on us. His eyes are the opposite to Blaze's, even if they are the same colour. I bet whatever one of them can do, the other one can as well. They're not normal, really, are they? Neither one of them.

Okay, so like any of us are normal. But even for us, they're not normal, are they?

"Blaze, Crossfire?" I've gotta talk with them. _Now_! Crossfire turns to face me and walks over, leaving Knuckles and Rouge to watch our backs as I move to the opposite wall to give Amy a little breathing space. Blaze, though... when I look back at him, he hasn't budged, and his expression is almost pleading.

"Chess, please – not now. Not yet."

I've had it up to here with mystery and prophecy and foreseeing the future, and all that other stuff! I'm not gonna let him put me off, not now!

"Why not? Isn't the time _exactly_ right, do you want me to wait another five seconds? I've got to talk to you!" I'm trying to keep my voice quiet because Amy's trying to concentrate, but it's kind of loud for a whisper. And angry, too. I'm practically hissing at him. He gives me a funny sad look and walks over.

"I did try..."

His voice is all mournful. I wonder what he's talking about? Well, it's time for me to find out now!

"Try what? Look, everyone knows you think you can see what's going to happen! You and Crossfire, you're even stranger than the rest of us, and we're in trouble, and I bet you can get us out of it! So why don't you? I need some answers here!"

Crossfire's silent, and I can't read his expression, beyond that it's cold. Blaze still looks so sad... but resigned, as well. I vaguely notice that Knuckles and Rouge have turned to watch us, too.

"I've always done the best thing I can do. I've always done everything I can to make the right thing happen," Blaze says. That's not an answer!

"That's not an answer, Blaze! I don't know just what it is about you, but you could get us all out of here in the time it takes to walk down the end of the corridor! I'm sure of it! You and Crossfire – there's nothing you can't do, is there!"

"There are things we can't do," he says. He sounds sad, so, so sad that if I thought for one minute he was the ordinary kid I used to believe he was, it'd break my heart. "And there are things we can do now for which the price could never be worth paying."

I stare at him. What's he saying? Sure... I know they've got strange powers... I know now, just looking at them, that they can do things that ought to be impossible, and I don't know why I never saw it before. Honestly, I don't think it was there before, nowhere near this strong.

"But most of all, Chess," he continues, "there are things we can't do. Please believe me. And... and please, remember that I tried..."

That's not the Blaze I used to know talking. It's as if something that's been happening has slowly stripped everything but whatever this strange power is away from him, or maybe that it's drowned everything else about him as it grew. But the last sentence is so very sad...

"Robots!"

That's Crossfire's voice, snapping out a cold word that shocks me and probably everyone else back into the reality of where we are. I look up and down the corridor, searching for them, but I can't see a thing – then they turn a corner, coming the same way we came from, across the intersection. Used to be I'd have put that down to his hearing, but I honestly think he just knew they were coming. With a shout, I bring up my gun and shoot at them! I'm not that great a shot, but I don't have to be, 'cause they're all over the corridor. Crossfire and Blaze shoot, too, hitting something every time like they always do, and Knuckles and Rouge dodge into one of the side corridors so they can stay out of the way of the shots 'til the robots get a bit closer. Amy's ducked behind her console, shooting around the side of it when she can, and I step back a couple of paces as I realise that Blaze and Crossfire and I don't have any cover! I'm going to have to try and dodge lasers and bullets and stuff! I'm not that fast! But if I can just get across to that terminal and hide there with Amy...


	56. Knuckles: Emerging Powers

-**_Knuckles_**-

"Robots!"

The grey squirrel's cold voice cuts through my thoughts. I turn to face the same way he is – he knows where they're coming from. Having him here is dangerous, probably more dangerous than ever before with all of the Chaos Emeralds in the same place, but Sonic and Shadow will need him... and I've come prepared to stop him, if I have to.

I know what Sonic planned, and I know he and Shadow can do it. While I may be able to, I'm not at all certain... nor am I certain that it won't take them _and_ me to do this. Of course, that's if we can get Sonic out, and if Shadow ever comes out of the state he's in. What possessed that idiot hedgehog to run off like that? Sonic's always been reckless and irresponsible, running off ahead without a thought for what could happen, but this is going too far even for him! And as for Shadow...

Then the robots show up, and there's no more time to think! I dodge into a side corridor to avoid their shots until they get a little closer, Rouge beside me. There's a squeak from the cat, Chess, as she fires at the robots. I can see her from here – she's right out in the open! Blaze and Crossfire are with her, though, so I suppose she has a chance. If she's smart enough to stay with them. And I hope she is, because there's no way I or anyone else can get over there.

"Chess, do as I say. Do not stop to think."

It's the younger, red-furred squirrel, Blaze. Maybe it's just the sensitivity the Master Emerald has given me, but when I glance at him, his eyes seem to dominate his entire face, the power behind them stronger than ever.

"What?"

"Left!"

To my surprise, she actually does obey him, dodging to the left just as a shot burns through the air where she stood. Next to me, Rouge gasps at the near miss, almost silently.

"Right!"

Chess jumps back to the right, more shots narrowly missing her. Blaze, still firing at the robots and never seeming to dodge himself, just walking around the little patch of corridor as calmly as if there wasn't anything happening at all, not a single blast ever hitting him, continues to call out instructions. Crossfire fires and fires again, each shot precisely aimed for all its speed, every one turning another robot to scrap. He no longer bothers to dodge, but the shots that hit him seem to do little more than singe his fur, make him fire back faster. Like Blaze, his eyes seem to me to dominate his face, almost glowing with his power. He's all but invulnerable now, and close to letting that power take him over. I can't help but admire the strength of his determination, the way he's somehow managed to hold onto himself for all these years... but I remember what Blaze said to me before. If he knew what he was, that inner strength might not be enough.

The robots, those that are left, close in on us, and Rouge and I step out to fight them. There aren't that many; nothing we can't handle – but Blaze's calm instructions suddenly stop, and I hear him shout

"No!"

There's a cry of pain. There's no-one it can be but Chess. She must have stopped listening to him, or not moved fast enough... either way, she's down. I concentrate on finishing off the remaining robots. Until they're gone, no-one can help her at all.


	57. Amy: Disaster

_-_**_Amy_**_-_

I duck back down below the edge of the console as a shot blazes past my head, almost singeing my fur. That was too close! Blaze is shouting orders to Chess, and part of me wonders how in the world he knows what to tell her, but it's lost in the battle. I jump up again, snap off a few more shots, duck out of the way once more as further blasts score marks into the wall behind me. Over half of the robots are down, and I prepare myself to jump back up once more – but then I hear real desperation in Blaze's voice, the first time I think I've ever heard it.

"Jump! _Left!_" And then, just instants later, "No!"

Chess' voice rings out then, a cry of pain, sounding almost as much surprised as hurt. I snap my head around to look at her... and know straight away that there's nothing I can do, nothing any of us can do. She's lying on the floor, looking at the hole in her chest with an expression of numbed shock in her green-gold eyes. I can't bear to look, but can't look away. From the moment I found her, I looked out for her, and she relied on me more than anyone else except Trick and Gaze. She was just a child when we met, a shell-shocked teenage girl trying to survive in the ruins of the city. She looked up to me, trusted me to make everything all right, forever optimistic and idealistic even after all Robotnik had done. Now... now I've led her to her death. How, how could I have been so stupid? How could I have done this to her? I can't look away... I'm as guilty as if I had pulled that trigger myself...

"_Amy!_"

It's Shadow. I barely even notice his voice. Something blurs through my field of vision, and I hear a series of crashes and explosions. My eyes are fogged with tears; when I blink and clear them, Tails is in front of me, kneeling by Chess. He looks over at me, sky-blue eyes meeting and matching mine in helplessness and sorrow. She's dead. There's nothing we can do.

I've led us here to die...

I watch dully as Crossfire pushes Tails aside. Shadow comes to stand next to me, but I can't respond to him. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be in this place, Chess wouldn't be-

No. I can't allow myself to do that. I can't let my feelings get in my way any more than they already have. Shadow ran out here, but I didn't have to follow him, and I didn't have to bring her. I can't blame him.

Which means it's my fault...

Crossfire stands again, moving with his usual economical grace. Even though I'm only looking at him from the side, I can see in his every move that someone is going to pay for this, someone is going to die for this. I'm not afraid of much any more, seen too much to be afraid... but as he stands and turns to look at me, I'm afraid of him.

"I should have done this long ago..."

Blaze watches him, inexpressibly sadly, but doesn't try to stop him. Whatever Crossfire intends to do, his brother isn't going to hold him back. Why does that scare me so?

"No."

It's Knuckles, talking as if he knows something I don't, somehow knows what Crossfire intends. The grey squirrel spins around, the full force of that intense blue stare directed at Knuckles. If it were me, I honestly think even I would pull back under that look, but Knuckles holds his ground.

"Not yet. I can stop you, if I have to. We have to find Sonic first, or you'll kill us all."

Crossfire stares at him, but he doesn't back down. In the end, unbelievably, it's Crossfire who looks away.

"Whatever you say, Guardian."

Relief washes through me, and I don't even know why. Our position's no better than it was. Chess is dead, Sonic's still a prisoner, and Shadow...

I can hardly bear to do it, but I turn my head to the left and look up at him. He's looking back, an anguished expression on his face, weight resting on his uninjured leg. He's sane again, whatever demons from his past possessed him fled once more... at least for the moment. I stand up, facing him.

"Shadow..."

I can't say any more. I can't speak. I want to cry, but I can't even do that. Shadow catches me, and all I can do for a moment is stand there, leaning on him, holding onto him as though I'd fall if I let go. Maybe I would. I can feel the warmth of his right arm across my back, the cold, unyielding metal of his left just above it, and for one ridiculous moment I almost feel safe.

But I'm not safe, none of us are safe, and until I get us out of here, I can't afford to relax – even to mourn Chess. Reluctantly, I let go and step away. Shadow lets me. I know he understands.

Don't leave me again, Shadow. I need you here, more than ever. I need you so I can find the strength to get us all out of here. I need you so I can carry on after what I've just done. I care about you too much, and I can't stop myself, so I need you here with me so I can't make the same mistake again...


	58. Tails: Test of Trust

_-**Tails**-_

We're heading for Sonic's cell. Amy had me hack into the computer to find out where he was, so we know where we're going now. I got the location of the Chaos Emeralds, too.

I can still hardly believe Chess is gone. Just like that... and suddenly, she wasn't here any more. Like Sonic, only there's no way she'll ever wake up again. I keep thinking about her waiting for us back at the hideout, and every time I realise that she isn't, that she won't be, and I remember kneeling by her on the floor, looking into her eyes and not seeing her look back.

She's still back there. There wasn't anything we could do, except move her to one side of the corridor. This isn't what was supposed to happen! Ever since Sonic ran off, everything's gone wrong – he was supposed to make things all right, not make them worse! I always believed that one day he'd save us... he will, won't he?

"This is it," Blaze says. He's been up ahead of us, watching out for robots and traps. I run up to the door he's stopped by and start work on the keypad. I don't want to admit it, but this is my last hope. Sonic, I still believe in you... you've gotta do this, you've just got to!

Everyone else has caught up with me by the time I'm done. That was a pretty tough lock! I take a deep breath and open the door. For some reason, I'm almost afraid it won't be him, but there he is, standing in the middle of the room.

"Tails!"

Even though his fur is still flecked with dried blood, and his ear's a mess, he sounds so cheerful, so normal, that I can't help but feel better. Of course he'll get us out of this, of course he can do it. Everything's gonna be okay now.

But then his expression changes, afraid, maybe, something I can't quite place in his eyes. He's not quite looking at me any more, he's looking past me. I turn reflexively, but all I can see is Shadow and Amy, with Knuckles, Rouge, Blaze and Crossfire standing around us keeping watch. When I look back to Sonic, he's normal again, but I can't forget what I just saw. What's wrong with him? I stopped myself from thinking about it before, but now I can't help it... what if I was right? What if he's going insane?

"He's approaching, Sonic."

I spin around to stare at Blaze. What's _he_ talking about? If Sonic really is cracking up, then surely he can only be making it worse! I look back to Sonic just in time to see him shake his head.

"No, he's not. He's dead."

I try and figure out what Sonic's talking about, what Blaze is talking to him about, but I've got no idea at all! Who's dead? Why would Blaze talk about someone who's dead?

"He might be dead, Sonic, but you'll have to stand and face him one day."

"Hey, I don't need advice from you or anyone else! I can take care of myself!" Sonic snaps, looking away from him. I still don't understand what he's talking about. How could Sonic possibly stand and face someone who's dead? Blaze isn't making much sense, so why does it seem to mean something to Sonic?

"Tails, are there any Emeralds in this place?"

My thoughts interrupted, I pause a moment before replying.

"Yeah – both the other two are here. This place is pretty important."

"Right, then let's go get them!" Even as he says that, he's walking out, past me, speeding up to a run, and I chase after him. He's gotta know what he's doing, right? Blaze overtakes me and catches up to Sonic. His voice is pretty quiet, but I've got good hearing, and I can just about make out what he says.

"The price you paid for waking up is that if you keep on running, it'll destroy you."

If Sonic says anything back, I don't hear it. Blaze has just confirmed everything I was afraid of. Something's been badly wrong with Sonic ever since he woke up, and it's gonna get worse. There's gotta be something I can do, some way I can help him; I – I have to try! Blaze drops back as I speed up to catch up with Sonic.

"Sonic, what was Blaze talking about?"

Sonic doesn't even falter as he runs, but he does pause before answering me.

"It's... it's nothing, Tails."

"It's not 'nothing', Sonic! Blaze said if you didn't do something, it'd destroy you!" He can't just tell me it's nothing! We're supposed to be friends; why won't he let me help? Instead, he just snaps at me!

"I said it was nothing, Tails! I can deal with it!"

And he speeds up, pulling ahead, moving just fast enough so I can't catch him. Why won't he let me help?

As I run along behind him, I remember... we may have been friends, but he never did. He never let me see when anything was wrong, and even when it was bad enough that I did, a few moments later he'd shrug it off and carry on like nothing had ever happened. I helped him fight, though he didn't really need me, but I couldn't help with what he was feeling. He never let me so much as know what it was. I should've remembered that, but I've got so used to everyone else...

All I want is to help Sonic, somehow. But how can I, if he won't even tell me what's going on? And how can I – how can any of us – trust him to get us out of this now? I know if I tell Amy what Blaze just said, she could well call the whole thing off and get back to base, certainly won't let Sonic tell us what to do any more. She's probably thinking about it already, after what we saw when we rescued him. Should I tell her what Blaze said? Or should I just keep quiet and trust Sonic like I always used to?

I hope I'm making the right decision...


	59. Blaze: Transcendence

_-**Blaze**-_

All their futures rest on a slender thread. Tails is torn by his trust in Sonic, Sonic's mind clouded by shattered barriers. Amy's love for Shadow battles her sense of duty, and Shadow himself is haunted by memories of his own. My brother, my other half, is held back only by the thinnest of restraints, and by the knowledge that the Guardian of the Master Emerald can stop him, regardless of his strength. And I... I can sense the last two Chaos Emeralds, so very close now. They have called to me since we reached this place. Soon now, the Emeralds will be reunited, and my vision will end.

I step forward, barely aware of my movements. There are the trigger circuits; here is where I must be to destroy them. This is the moment when I pull the trigger, and so I do, the five times I need to. I walk forwards once again, through the corridor that is now harmless. The Chaos Emeralds are ahead. They call to me, to us, myself and my brother, my counterpart, my opposite, my other half. With me, he walks to the door. With me, he opens it. The others stare as we walk towards the Emeralds. They see our movements smooth and strange and inexorable, see us take an Emerald each and turn in unison. They see the Emeralds reflected in our eyes, and see our eyes shine with a power of their own.

The moment must be broken, so I break it. I beckon my brother and walk forwards as though we are still the people we once were, holding out the Emerald to Amy. She takes it in silence. My brother follows my lead, though he holds his Emerald in only one hand, and she takes that as well.

The time has almost come. Soon, my vision will end. Whatever path is taken to reach that point, the ending of my vision is the right thing. That which was wrong shall be set right, the broken made whole. The paths themselves, however, have their differences. Some are good, some are bad, and while the ending of my vision may be a good thing in itself, the surrounding events tell me that it could lead to a dark future. As it approaches the time, I have less and less of the future to use to tell me what my actions must be. Though my power is now fully awakened, this limit may allow me to make mistakes.

"All right!" It's Sonic. Only he and the Guardian know what he intends, but the time is almost here. "Now all we've gotta do is get out of here!"

"Then what, Sonic? We have all of the Chaos Emeralds," Tails says. I know that Sonic can hear the doubt in his voice. He may not have told Amy what I said earlier, but his faith is shaken.

"Then we get the seventh back!"

Sonic hides his fear beneath confidence, but it will no longer serve him. He must face the past he buries or die.

"Sonic, how exactly are we going to do that?" Amy asks. She can no longer trust his vague promises, after what has happened with both him and Shadow.

"The last Emerald – you guys have had it all this time! I can't believe you haven't noticed it!"

"What do you mean?"

He spins and points at us, myself and my brother. My equal. My opposite. My counterpart. The other half of the whole we create.

"Right there! Just look at them!"

She stares, and so do Tails, Shadow, and Rouge. My brother shows no surprise. Deep within himself, a part of him already knew.


	60. Sonic: Echoes of a Past Death

_-_**_Sonic_**_-_

"All right!" I say. Finally! We've got all the Emeralds! "Now all we've gotta do is get out of here!"

"Then what, Sonic?" Tails asks. "We have all of the Chaos Emeralds." He sounds doubtful, like he doesn't really know if I can do this or not, like... like he doesn't believe in me so much any more. That hurts, more than I want to admit. Tails has always believed in me, despite how totally crazy some of the things I've done have been. He always trusted me absolutely, no matter what. Having him sound like that, with everything that's been happening... I don't need Tails doubting me, not now! I can do this!

"Then we get the seventh back!"

For once, I can't feel as confident as I sound, but I won't let them see that. I push my own doubts to the back of my mind. It doesn't matter what I've been thinking I see, or whatever Blaze has to say – and it's none of his business anyway – I can do this!

"Sonic, how exactly are we going to do that?" It's Amy... and it doesn't sound like she completely trusts me, either. Up until now, she's accepted that I knew what I was doing, done whatever I said. Why can't they just listen to me for a little while longer? After all this is over, they can think whatever they want, but right now, I need them!

"The last Emerald – you guys have had it all this time! I can't believe you haven't noticed it!"

"What do you mean?"

"Right there! Just look at them!"

I spin around to point at Blaze and Crossfire, standing next to each other, their eyes, the blue of the lost Emerald, almost glowing with its power. The more Chaos Emeralds we've found, the more obvious it's got, until I started wondering if Amy and the others were all blind! Everyone's staring at them, except for Knuckles, and it actually looks kinda funny.

"So..."

That low voice freezes the grin right off my face. As cold and dangerous as anything I've ever heard, it takes me a moment to place it, match it to Emerald blue eyes filled with hatred and fury.

"I could destroy him..."

I don't know quite who he's talking about – Eggman? – but it sounds like Crossfire's going crazy! I know he's got the negative side of the Emerald's power, but he's hung on for years, so why's he snapping now? His body seems filled with a tense, crackling power just waiting to be unleashed, a fury that will fill the world if I don't stop him first! I step forward, hardly even aware that I am, ready to try and stop him, when a voice cuts between us.

"No."

What – Knuckles? What does he think he's doing!

"You can't stop me, Guardian," Crossfire answers, still every bit as cold.

"I can," Knuckles says, his voice calm, sounding strange against Crossfire's, "and I will. The Master Emerald has the power to control the Chaos Emeralds. You know that."

Crossfire glares at him, but says nothing. He's really backing down? I didn't think Knuckles would be able to keep him under control like that, but I guess he does have the Master Emerald. No time to think too much about that, though; I've got to get us out of here so we can restore that Emerald and put an end to all of this!

"Come on," I say, beckoning the others, and without looking back, I run on. Time to get moving! Once I get that Emerald back, I'll blow this place, so I can't leave everyone else in here when I do!

But, somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm a lot more worried than I let on. Everything I've been seeing, and now everything Blaze said – what if he's right? And just what did happen to that robot anyway?

Warned by an instinct I can't name, I look to my right just in time to see it headed straight for me! I jump, and it flies by underneath, slowing and turning to stop only a little way away. I stare into my own face reflected in blue and silver, my eyes reflected in red, and I remember...

And the next thing I know I'm flat on my back, halfway across the room! My chest hurts, but I get up, speeding up as I do, the whole world slowing down around me. There's that robot, just over there, standing and looking at me! I snap into motion, kicking off from the ground, from the air, curling into a ball and letting my natural energy slice through the air ahead as I spin, letting me track the robot as it moves to the side, every bit as fast as I can. All that exists for me right now is myself and the robot, and the space between us, a space I'm closing until it pulls away with a sharp twist, breaking my lock and forcing me to drop to the floor to reorient myself. In that instant, it rebounds from a wall, coming right at me, but we're both moving at the same speeds, and I jump up and left, letting it pass me by again. While it's still slowing to stop, I go after it, diving into a spin that'll shatter most robots, feel myself slam into it, uncurl and stand up to see it against the wall on the other side of the room. It's damaged, but not destroyed, and as I run towards it, it comes right for me – but I'm ready this time. I jump, spinning as I do, far too fast to see, and the robot and I rebound from one another. I land a little way off, facing it.

_This world isn't big enough for both of us. One of us has to go._

For an instant, I see myself somewhere else, standing in the cold, looking into my own face reflected in chill metal, ready for what we both intended to be the final showdown. But I'm the only one who sees that, the only one still alive, and this metal ghost only takes advantage of my pause. In the moment I'm frozen, it's still moving, and it hits me just as I see the room around me again! I try to get up, only to be knocked flat, because it's moving just as fast as I can and the impact shocked me enough to slow me down! I try again, but every time, it knocks me down, and I'm beginning to think I'll be here until it kills me when I hear a smash and feel... nothing?

"Sonic!"

Tails? I open my eyes, force myself to my feet. Tails is standing next to me, looking worried. I turn around, a little painfully, to see Shadow fighting that robot. He must have got it off me...

Looking at them, I see Metal. First on one side, then the other, in the robot's form, in Shadow's eyes and arm. In the same way I always did, meeting Shadow, my equal and opposite, the only person who could equal my speed. My rival, but one who could have been a friend, who became a friend. Who I thought died, like Metal did so long ago, refusing to let me save him. Who came back...

Why can't I stop thinking about Metal? Blaze said I had to face him, but I don't even know how! He said... he said that if I didn't stop running, it would destroy me. Is that it? I've always turned my back on my past. It's the past; I can't do anything about it and there's no real point thinking about it. But it won't leave me alone now... somehow, I've gotta get it out of my way!

I shake my head and force the images aside. Shadow is Shadow, nobody else, and that robot is just a robot. Metal's dead – the robot looks like him, but it isn't, and Shadow might remind me of him, but he isn't either! Yet no matter how I try to deny them, the memories keep coming back. What else can I do?

"Sonic? Are you okay?"

I look at Tails with a little relief.

"You just spaced out there for a moment," he says, watching me worriedly.

"It's okay, Tails. I'm fine," I tell him. I'll be just fine. Whatever this is, I'll deal with it!

A loud crash makes me look back at Shadow and- and the robot. One of them's just gone through the wall! I dash through after them – and skid to a halt. The room through here must house the power generators for this base, or something like that, and it's huge! I'm standing on a ledge that looks like it runs all the way around, a railing at the edge stopping things from falling off. Shadow and the robot are fighting in the middle of the room, Shadow's jets keeping him up. As I watch, they hit one of the generators, and there's an explosion! Shadow jets out and lands on his feet right next to me. He seems pretty much okay, just looking back at the cloud of smoke, so I watch it too. If that robot survived that, it'll be coming out any time now.

I watch the smoke clear. Doesn't seem like there's anything there, just the broken generator. Guess that finished it off. I turn to go, Shadow right behind me – then stop, spinning around, because I'm sure I heard something, and I did! The robot's back, badly damaged but still moving, and it's right behind him!

"Shadow!"

I've barely even started to speak when it moves, grabbing his arm and jerking him back over the railing. Shadow grabs it, stopping himself being pulled away, but it hits him with its free hand, dazing him enough to make him let go! If I don't do something right now, it's going to kill him! That generator they hit earlier is crackling with electricity, and by the look of it, that's what it's aiming for! I jump forwards, grabbing the top of the rail with my left hand and vaulting right over it, catch Shadow's wrist with my right, and hang on! Shadow locks his hand around my wrist, too. The robot tries to pull him away, switching its grip to one of his legs, but there's no way I'm going to let go, and it can't reach past him to make me!

The railing creaks. It wasn't meant for this kind of strain! I look back just in time to see part of it pull free. Me, Shadow, and the robot all jerk forwards, and my hand starts slipping along the rail! We stop again as my hand hits a vertical bar, but the railing's now broken on one side and peeling away from the ledge on the other. Another bar gives out, and I'm jerked forward again, but I'm not going to let go! I won't let Shadow die! Maybe, if I can just let go of the railing, I could flip around and attack that thing – it looks like it would only take one good hit to destroy it!

"Sonic!"

Something grabs my wrist, two hands hanging on. It's Tails, has to be him. Why couldn't he have been a few seconds later? I could have let go, swung round, and hit that robot before it got us anywhere near the generator! Now what am I going to do?

_I'm holding onto a narrow ledge. Knuckles grabs me, and I strain against him, but he's pretty strong and I'm exhausted. I reach out anyway, trying to get just that little bit further. Our hands almost meet, both of us reaching out to one another – and then you knock my hand away! You tell me there can only be one of us, and all I can do is watch as you die, feel part of my mind vanish into death._

I snap back into the present again, still holding onto Shadow, still holding the railing, still with Tails hanging onto me.

_In outer space, I reach out. I know I can get us both back to the ARK, but only if you help me. I'm worn out, and so are you. If we don't head back now, we'll never make it. Your hand lifts, slowly, and just for a moment, I think it's going to work this time. But you press your bracelet into my hand and let yours fall, and you fall away. There's nothing I can do._

Another bar gives out, I jerk forward again, and Tails yells in surprise and fear. I'm not letting go, no matter what happens! And then I realise just what is going to happen. One glance at Shadow and I can see it in his eyes. It's going to happen all over again, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

No! That's not true! It seems like that day has haunted the back of my mind forever, so I knew what would happen long before it did, but it doesn't always have to be that way! I can stop it, right now! I tighten my grip on Shadow's arm just as he lets go of me and jerks back. If I hadn't been ready for it, he'd have pulled free, and that would have been the end!

"I'm not letting go, Shadow! I won't let you die again!" Don't do this to me, Shadow! I won't let go, not now!

"You have to!"

"No!"

There's a gunshot, and suddenly, I'm being pulled down instead of sideways. My hand slips down the vertical bar I'd been hanging on to and fetches up against the bottom rail. Tails yells again, forced to let go as my hand slides. Now the only thing keeping me and Shadow up in the air is the twisted railing, and the robot's still hanging on, heavy enough that I don't know if I can pull us up! I hear the sound of tortured metal giving way, and more of the railing breaks, twisting down and leaving me, Shadow, and that robot hanging well below the level of the ledge.

"Let go, Sonic!"

"No way!"

I try and lift Shadow enough that he can grab the railing, but I'm already tired and kinda battered, and I don't quite make it. I try again, but don't even get as far as last time.

No! This can't be happening! I can't let Shadow die!

One last time, I try again, putting all the strength I have left into it. And, somehow, incredibly, I manage it. Shadow's hand locks around the railing, his other comes up to join it, and I can finally let go.

For a moment, I just hang there by one hand, worn out. I did it... I saved him. Shadow's not going to die. I hear a voice, but I don't really listen to what it says, and the words just pass me by.

Looking down at the robot instead of across at Shadow, I realise it looks dead, no sign of power in it any more. That shot must have finished it off! Problem is, it's still got its hands locked tight around Shadow's leg. Someone should be able to get it off when we get up, though. I swing myself backwards and forwards, which makes the railing creak alarmingly, then, when I figure I'm going high enough, let go, spinning around and landing with my feet on the bar I was holding onto just moments before. Catching what used to be the bottom of the railing, though now it looks more like the side of a twisted ladder, I steady myself, then bend and reach out to Shadow with my free hand. This time, he takes it, and with his help, I pull him up onto the same bar. It creaks, bending a bit in the middle, but we're not going to be standing here long enough for that to matter! There's a good bit of space between the bars, but they're close enough together that I can reach the next one, so I grab hold of it, jump, and pull myself up, then pause to help Shadow. One more bar and we'll be able to reach the ledge! Jumping up and reaching back down to help Shadow, I realise I feel better than I think I have since I woke up. Finally, things are working out! It's like I've lost a weight I didn't even know was there.

The ledge is within reach! The railing's been creaking some as we've climbed up it, but it seems to be holding steady. I hop up, kneel on the edge, and reach down. Shadow reaches up to me, I grab his wrist one last time, and as he jumps, I pull, bringing him up onto the edge. We've made it!

I pull the robot up, too, reaching past Shadow and dragging it onto the ledge so it can't pull him off. It's definitely dead. Whoever fired that shot took out its brain. I look up and see Crossfire walking towards me from some way around the ledge. He must've gone out there to get a good shot at it, without me and Shadow in the way. One minute he's crazy, the next he's trying to save my life?

"Sonic!"

That's Tails. I grin and look up at him, maybe a little tiredly, but I don't care.

"I did it, Tails."

"Shadow, are you all right?"

Amy spoke at pretty much the same time I did. She's kneeling by Shadow, checking he's okay. Shadow nods.

"I'm fine, thanks to Sonic."

Something makes me turn my head, and I see Blaze. He's looking right at me as if he can read my mind. He doesn't say anything, but he looks pleased, in a strange, distant way. I look back at Shadow.

I did it. I saved him, I didn't let him die. Now, everything's going to be just fine. I can feel it.


	61. Shadow: Light and Darkness

_-**Shadow**-_

Sonic pulls me up onto the walkway, then reaches past me and drags the robot up, too, finally taking the weight off my legs. I didn't think we were going to make it... that's why I tried to make him let go of me. At least that way, one of us would survive.

"Sonic!" Tails cries, sounding incredibly relieved. Amy kneels by my side, checking I'm all right.

"I did it, Tails," Sonic answers. He did, when I didn't think he could. At the same time, Amy speaks.

"Shadow, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, thanks to Sonic," I tell her. Twisting around and sitting up, I reach down to try and loosen the robot's grip on my ankle. It's strong, but I should be able to get it off.

While I'm doing that, I find myself thinking about Sonic. What was he talking about when he said he wouldn't let me die again? When he thought I died after we Chaos Controlled the ARK? I wouldn't be here if I had, but for a while, everyone thought I did. Did it really matter that much to him? He never acted as if it did. I don't suppose I really gave him much of a chance, but even then...

One hand comes free, and I start on the other. It's a lot like my own left hand in many ways, strong, pointed metal fingers, a fairly sleek design. Looking at it reminds me of Sonic's occasional reactions to my own arm, as though it reminded him of something. I remember seeing him pause in the fight; that's how the robot managed to get him on the floor in the first place. Could it have been the same thing? I've seen him face robots a lot like this one before, though, and he never reacted like that then, at least not that I saw. So what is it?

I don't suppose I'm going to find out. For all that I'd begun to think of Sonic as a friend before all of this began, I never learned anything about his past. I don't know whether to ask him, either. I've learned more than enough about my own...

"Shadow?"

With a shock, I realise I've bent the robot's fingers backwards. Amy's looking at me, worried, even a little afraid. I push it away and stand up.

"I'm fine, Amy."

I'm not fine. After I landed, I was on the run, but I couldn't keep running forever. It seemed as if the entire world was against me, and by the time they caught me, I'd already lost almost all my faith in humanity. No matter what they did, they couldn't force me to be their weapon. After what they had done, I would never help them...

I catch myself rubbing my wrist, stop myself. If I think about it too much, I'm afraid I'll lose control the way I did earlier. Seeing Sonic on that screen, hurt and hopeless, brought it all back, that part of my past I had never remembered and wish I still didn't.

Something touches my shoulder, and I look up, right into Amy's eyes. Deep within them, I see that, somehow, she knows. She knows why I came here, why I did what I did. Somehow, she knows what happened to me. I see sorrow there, and understanding, a compassion that reminds me that not all people are the way I once thought they were. It was so long ago that she first told me that, reminding me what I had promised to Maria, giving me a chance to undo what I had almost done. Now my memories war with one another, compassion and friendship set against the darkness of my past.

Long ago, I made a promise... and I will keep that promise. There is good in this world, in its people, and I will fight to save them. Maria believed in me. Amy believes in me. Sonic saved my life just now, and would have died trying if it hadn't been for whoever fired that shot. Tails has done so much for me, trusts me absolutely after how long we have fought together. I will not let them down.

"Hey, Shadow, Amy! Time to get going!"

We both turn to look at Sonic. Whatever was bothering him before, it seems to be gone now. He hasn't changed at all from the person I knew years ago. I smile, just faintly, as I follow him, back through the broken wall and down the corridor we were headed for before. There's still good in this world, and it's worth fighting for. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it.


	62. Crossfire: Fury's Anticipation

_-**Crossfire**-_

They've stopped. I turn, slowly, surveying the area. I'd know if there were robots coming, now, like my little brother, so like me, so immensely different, but it's a habit, and a good one. We've been here before. To the side, my left since I'm facing backwards, is the corridor Chess died in.

A Chaos Emerald… at last I know what my power is, what my brother's power is, what kept us alive on that day of ruin when the city fell. Robotnik will regret what he has done! I will destroy him, I will have my revenge! There is no reason to hold myself back when he is so near and at last my power can be unleashed!

"Crossfire!"

I would destroy him, too, given just an instant, the only thing stopping me, the only thing holding me back because I know he can bind my fury. But by the time I had reached him, little brother would have me, knowing what he does, being what he is. Since I learned what I truly am, he has not been far from the Guardian's side, or from mine, but I can't hate him. My fury is not for him, my other half, my opposite, my counterpart. It is for them, for these fools who think they can control me, for Robotnik who destroyed my life.

I turn again, see Shadow, standing next to Amy. Didn't he see the power he could have, he does have? The hatred and fury I saw in him before give him a strength he will not use, a power he holds back. He's wrong to fear it, foolish, weak, when simply letting go could destroy all that he hates so much. My strength is his strength, and together we could unleash an unstoppable force.

They've been talking, though I haven't bothered to listen, not needing to hear, their words worthless. Now they're done, and Shadow turns to walk away, off our original path to where Chess fell. If anyone will come with me, it'll be him, and futures flash through my mind in an instant. My eyes narrow, reflecting my thoughts, focused on one thing and one thing only. Why are there no futures where I can use my power the way I should? Why in all the maze of actions and reactions is there no way I can push Shadow into the fury he had before, the fury that brought us here? What coward's bond holds him now that did not then? And why can I nowhere see further than this escape?

The frustration I feel fuels my rage. I spin on one foot and slam my fist into the nearest wall, visibly denting it for all the thick metal of its construction, feel a faint satisfaction as they all jump, except for little brother, watching me with calm blue eyes the mirror image of my own. If none of them dare destroy him, I will go alone! Let them try and stop me if they dare!

I turn and walk away, hear the Guardian begin to speak, feel power rising behind me and spin to cut him off before he can finish, but already it stifles my power, calming me against my will, and I…

…Look around, awake just above the anger. There they are, all but Shadow, Sonic there, Amy there, Knuckles and Rouge there, standing together with his hand on the Master Emerald. Fools, bringing it to this place, almost certainly to their deaths and to its loss! Little brother there watching me with eyes serene as clear sky, and footsteps I turn my head to look at are the sound of Shadow returning, carrying Chess. Dead as that family she dreamed of finding, now, never fooling me with her optimism and her empty hope. Fresh anger sparks pure fury, and I…

…Can't break away from the Guardian, can't reach him in time, can't destroy them because he and little brother would stop me. I settle for glaring at him instead, a poor last choice to what I would do given a fraction of a chance, but our so-called leader tells them to keep going and I have no choice but to follow.

Not long before we reach the way out, following the path we made, few enough robots there to stop us, the few that are falling broken the instant they come within my range. Outside in the ruin of the city, they don't stop, so I don't, the Guardian behind me making sure I can't turn away.

"We need to get someplace high up!" Sonic says, looking around even as he does at the city skyline, plenty of tall buildings around even broken as it is. Little brother nods, scans the area, and points.

"That one."

It's close by, a bit battered but probably in good enough shape, safe enough to go up since little brother suggested it.

"All right, let's get up there before he sends more robots after us," Amy replies, confirming his decision I suppose, as if anyone needed to when they know what he is. She looks over at Sonic. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course I do, Amy!"

Hah. Overconfident idiot. Should I tell them that there is no future beyond reaching the top of that building, that everything is clouded? Their grand plans, whatever they are, are doomed to failure! I could tell them, the fools, fighting their hopeless battle, but one thing stops me. Not the Guardian, not little brother, but something I know will come. I smile, dangerous and cold, enough to make Tails look away, anticipating my revenge.

Soon, they will _tell_ me to unleash my power…


	63. Blaze: Vision's End

_-**Blaze**-_

"We need to get someplace high up!"

Sonic must have an answer, so I will give it, glancing amongst the buildings. That is the one I will choose, so I do, not needing to see the safe climb though I know it will happen. Raising my hand for him to see, I say "That one."

"All right, let's get up there before he sends more robots after us," Amy replies. She glances back to Sonic, doubt and sorrow still in her eyes, in her heart. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course I do, Amy!"

This close to the end of my vision, I cannot tell whether his confidence is good or bad, justified or otherwise. They must shape the future now, and I may only watch, unable to tell what my actions might bring. I speak for what I know will be the last time before the end of my vision.

"Let her rest here, Shadow."

He nods, setting Chess' body down by a bush in the grounds of one of the buildings. I watch. I could not have averted her death and still caused this future to come to pass, though I tried for the sake of my former self. Indirectly, the future of the resistance rested on that action, on all actions. This has brought about the futures I felt to be best, and if she did not die there then she would have fallen with many or all of the others, but I no longer have the knowledge to act, and can only follow where Sonic leads.

I follow him up the stairs of the building, feeling my brother's rage restrained only by the future that I also see, words that Sonic will speak in desperate haste, words that herald our vision's end. As we reach the roof, I see a plume of distant smoke, just as I knew I would. The Chaos Emeralds are a beacon of power that has made us an obvious target, and should those missiles reach us, we will all be destroyed, save for myself and my brother. Yet whether or not they do is hidden in the fog of a future I cannot see…

"Sonic!" Tails shouts, pointing at them.

"I see 'em, Tails! Shadow, get ready!"

"We don't have time for this, Sonic!" Amy cuts in, afraid but still determined to try and keep everyone who relies on her alive. "If we don't get out of here right now, we're done for!"

I can say nothing. I do not know who is right or what course of action we should take, only which one we will, the choices in these last few minutes narrowing ever further as they pass into the one coherent timeline that will become the past. I know that Sonic will not listen, and he does not, calling to my brother and I.

"Blaze, Crossfire, I need you over here!"

We cross to stand with him, Crossfire's silence one of anticipation, my own merely acceptance of what will be.

"Sonic!"

He still will not, does not listen to her. Tails watches in wide-eyed silence, his choice to trust Sonic already made, now seen through to its conclusion.

"I hope he knows what he's doing," Rouge says to Knuckles, who can only answer with uncertainty.

"I think so…"

"You _think_ so?"

"Shadow, you ready?" Sonic doesn't wait for an answer, even a nod, the missiles approaching too rapidly for even his comfort. "Blaze, Crossfire – let go!"

And there is no more future.


	64. Sonic: Showdown

_-**Sonic**-_

"We don't have time for this, Sonic!" Amy shouts. "If we don't get out of here right now, we're done for!" I don't listen, haven't got time to listen. We've got to do this, right now!

"Blaze, Crossfire, I need you over here!"

"Sonic!"

Amy shouts again, but I know what I'm doing, and with those missiles coming, I haven't got time to argue! I can see Tails from the corner of my eye; he looks scared, but he trusts me, just like he always did. Rouge and Knuckles are talking, too, but not to me and I don't have time to listen anyway. I've got to do this before those missiles get here!

"Shadow, you ready?"

He'd better be ready! I don't waste time waiting to see what he says, I should be able to do it on my own if he can't, and we don't have time! Those missiles are getting awfully close, moving really fast, and it's too late for anything else now!

"Blaze, Crossfire – let go!"

I've already started to speed up as if I was about to fight, 'cause I'm going to have to. There's only going to be one moment I can use before Crossfire kills us all! They both tip their heads back, eyes closing, and moving slowly compared to me, though it's fast for everyone else, I see a shockwave start to form. This is it, the only chance I have, the instant that's going to either win this fight or get us all killed, and I take it! Calling on the power of the Emeralds just like I've done several times before, I close my eyes as I concentrate, able to feel six of them spinning around me and the seventh being drawn towards me as well. But getting that seventh is harder than I thought, maybe out of my reach – then I feel another pull, calling on the Chaos Emeralds just like I am. It's Shadow!

"What's happening!" That's Tails' voice, but I don't have time to look, all of my attention focused inwards, on calling those Emeralds to me. It's hard, even with Shadow, so much harder than I thought-

"The missiles – Sonic, you'll never do it in time! We have to get out!"

That's Amy, but she only makes me redouble my efforts. Even if I wanted to, I can't stop now!

"They can do it. They have to," Rouge says, and I hear Knuckles muttering something I can't make out in the background… and then, suddenly, there's another power here, guiding the last Chaos Emerald to us. It's Knuckles and his Master Emerald! With this kinda help, it's a whole lot easier, and suddenly the seventh Emerald is with me, me and Shadow, its power split between us both. Shadow cries out, and my eyes snap open, my head turning to face him. His formerly black fur's glowing silver, but his eyes are still shut, and he's holding his left arm – what's left of it. That robot arm of his can't have been able to take the power; it's been destroyed! His left arm ends a little below the elbow, and if I thought that mechanical hand of his was strange to look at, this is even more strange, wrong somehow.

"The missiles!"

Tails' voice rings out and Shadow raises his head, his eyes now a perfect mirror of mine. Our gazes lock for the tiniest fraction of a second, any pain he's feeling locked away again, and we shoot upward together. The missiles are less than a second away for us, and only a few for them, but Shadow and I slam into them at full speed, taking the force of the explosions, enough to blow us back, but not able to hurt us, not like this!

Tumbling through the air, I right myself, regain control, look around for Shadow and for the building where the others are. They're there, lying down, but even as I start moving towards them, I see them begin picking themselves up, even see Tails waving at me. I give him a thumbs-up in response as Shadow flashes back to my side, then look to Shadow, asking him a silent question.

_You ready?_

I don't need to say it, don't need to say anything. Shadow can see it in my expression, and I can see his answer in his. In that instant of shared understanding, I lean forward, Shadow right with me, and start moving, picking up speed, ignoring the air's ever-increasing resistance, ignoring everything but Shadow and our target, that base we just escaped from. That's where Eggman is, so that's where we've gotta go to put an end to this!

It doesn't take long to get there, but it doesn't take long to accelerate, either, and by the time we've reached it the energy field around us both is blazing blue-white ahead with the heat of air friction. We don't stop or even slow for the thick metal walls up ahead, just slam right through them, losing a little speed in the impact, but only a little. Even if we weren't driving onwards, our momentum would probably bring us a good way through this building! We're on about the right level for the control room, so all we've got to do is look for it… preferably without flying straight through. I slow down, and Shadow with me, tearing a few more holes through walls in the process. The one that stops me, I hit with my hands outstretched, easily taking the shock of the impact. Hovering just above the floor, I look from side to side, hoping for some clue that'll tell me which way to go.

Something catches my eye, but I'm not sure what, a hint of familiarity. Turning around, I head back through the last hole and look around some more. It's with a bit of a shock that I realise this place is familiar. It's practically imprinted on my memory. The last time I came through here, I was looking at anything and everything so I didn't have to see what was right next to me.

"Sonic?"

Shadow's come up behind me. There's a touch of urgency to his voice – if we don't keep moving, we'll run out of the energy we need to hang onto these Emeralds before we even find Eggman!

"It's this way!"

I don't wait for him to answer me, just spin to my left and head off down the corridor. That place the robot brought me to must have been the control room, and it's just along here! Lights, doors, and the odd Eggman face flash by as we pick up speed again, and it's only a few seconds before we get there, blasting through the door and stopping on the other side. Sure enough, there he is, hovering over a hole in the floor that I don't remember being there before, in that little round vehicle of his.

"Ah, Sonic! You may have destroyed my missiles, but you can't defeat me! Now, it's time to die! Not even your Super form can survive this!"

The vehicle drops through the hole while he's still laughing, and it closes too fast for me to follow, though I guess I could just break through. I'm just rising for a clear shot at it when I hear Shadow.

"Chaos Spear!"

A lance of chaos energy completely destroys the metal plate, revealing the hole again.

"Nice one, Shadow!" I say, grinning. I'd almost forgotten he could do that! I dive down, Shadow right behind me. The hole's only just big enough for Eggman's vehicle, but given how fat he is, that leaves us plenty of room! It turns and twists a bit before finally letting us out again in the generator room where we fought before. There's something on the ground that wasn't there before, so I flash down to take a look. It's gotta be his latest mech, a huge thing with a whole lot of guns that, at least for the moment, is standing on the ground, though I'd guess from the looks of it that it could fly as well if Eggman wants it to. Well, doesn't matter what it can or can't do – if I take this thing out, I'll be able to blow the base!

Even while I'm thinking that, it starts shooting at me. I dash out of the way, speeding up to the maximum until every second drifts by like forever. Several guns track my movements, and out of the corner of my eye I see several more firing at Shadow, but there's no way he can keep up with us! Circling it at high speed, I look for weak points, because something like this he'll have given enough armour to hold me off even charged up like this. I don't see much, so I dive underneath. Moments later, electricity arcs between its underside and the floor, and I get out only just in time to avoid getting caught, but I think I saw something! All I gotta do now is figure out how to hit it!

Well, almost all, anyway. Using the Chaos Emeralds like this is kinda draining, and it saps my natural energy pretty quickly. Once I'm out of energy, I'll lose my hold on the Emeralds, and if that happens, I might not be a sitting duck, but I definitely won't be able to fight this thing! I peel off to hover above the machine and look around, more with my energy-senses than my eyes. Anywhere the natural energy of the world is concentrated enough, I can use it to enhance my own, or at least, that's what Tails says. All I know is that I can sense places where that energy is stronger and take it to use myself. There's plenty here, particularly around the generator that robot, the one that looked like Metal, damaged earlier, and I head for it right as a shot passes through where I was hovering!

"Too slow, Eggman!"

I didn't actually even see it coming, but I'm not going to tell him that, and he was still too slow! A funny sound behind me warns me something's about to happen, and I turn my climb into a dive just as some kind of beam shoots through where I just was. It's only there for a few seconds, but when it stops, I see a hole seared right through the generator I was heading for! That thing's powerful!

"Sonic, that's the weapon he used to destroy the Chaos Emerald! You mustn't let it hit you!"

Looks like this is going to be the first battle I've had like this where my enemy might actually be able to hurt me. This should be interesting! I spin around the broken generator, picking up energy as I go, and head back for the machine. Something that can destroy a Chaos Emerald must use up a lot of power, and this time I actually concentrate on sensing it as I flash by, rather than just being vaguely aware the thing has a big power source. Whatever he's got there, it's still no Chaos Emerald, but it sure is powerful, and really unstable! Destroying this machine is going to make one huge explosion!

Dodging slow-moving bullets and energy-based shots alike, I spin once again on the far side and hover for a moment to take another good look at the thing. Somehow, I've gotta get it to lift up a bit, or I'll never be able to hit that weak spot!

A second or so goes by as I hover there, looking at it. Maybe… maybe I don't need to hit the weak spot at all! If I can knock all four legs out from under it at once, it'll probably fall and hit itself on the floor, and if Eggman gets the engines on in time so that it doesn't, it's likely to lift up a bit, letting me get an attack in!

"Shadow, the legs! We've gotta make it fall down!"

He changes course, diving, and I know he heard me. I aim down as well, heading for the front left leg, on the other side of the thing to where I am.

_Wham!_ The impact sends me flying off, but I recover myself quickly and look back. That was harder than I expected! Shadow and I have knocked two of the legs off the floor, and the machine looks unbalanced, tipped towards the one I hit. Spinning around and picking up speed again, I aim for the nearest one, see Shadow doing the same on the other side. We've gotta get there before it gets its legs down again!

We're too close, and Eggman's too slow; the legs we hit are barely halfway back before we hit the other two, spinning again to see the result of our handiwork. At the speed I'm moving, thinking, reacting, it almost seems to hover for an instant before gravity claims it and it falls, seeming to drift down to my eyes even though it only really takes a second or two, to hit the floor with a tremendous crash.

As it starts jerkily picking itself up, I dash off to claim some more energy, looping around that broken generator again and coming back. Shadow evidently had the same idea, as I pass him going the other way about halfway around it. There's not that much left here any more, but I wonder…

"Hey, Robotnik!"

Stopping and hovering in front of one of the intact generators, I wave at him. Eggman could never resist taking a challenge like that, and he doesn't this time, either. Every weapon he's got fires at or around me, except for that beam, and a couple actually hit, knocking me back a little, there's so many of the things! I act like I barely noticed, infuriating him even more, and just like I thought, I hear the same noise that signified the beam firing last time. Since I'm facing him this time, I can see what's making it, some kind of charging hum followed by a cover opening up to reveal the weapon about to shoot me – but I rocket up, out of the way, and all he manages to hit is his own power generator! There's a nasty explosion, and a thick cloud of greasy black smoke blows past me. That should have done the trick!

Getting close in again, I look around for Shadow. He's not far off, probably more waiting for me than anything else.

"Now, Shadow!"

Once again, we dive for the legs, hitting one each, spinning out, regaining our balance and swooping in for the second set! It works just like last time, both of us clearing the machine well before it hits the ground, and when it picks itself up this time, it's jerkier than before. Looks like we're doing it!

Electricity crackles between the machine and the floor again, and this time, I don't think it's going to stop. Hitting it might not hurt me, but it'll probably slow me down too much for knocking out the legs like last time to work again. Somehow, I've gotta get it to shut off!

Darting in close, narrowly dodging shot after shot, I look for any new weak points, any way to deactivate the field, but I can't see anything. Through the arcing electricity, I see Shadow on the other side, leaning forward – wait, what's he doing? Shadow!

"Shadow!"

He doesn't listen, diving right into the middle of the field. There's no way he can move fast enough in there to damage that thing!

"Chaos… Blast!"

A shockwave kind of like the one I stopped Crossfire creating ripples out from him. It's big enough to hit the weak spot and all four of the legs! The electricity field shuts off, the legs flying outwards, and Shadow dashes forward as it starts to fall, only just getting clear in time! The sound of the impact is different this time, mixed up with a muffled bang that, from the sound of it, came from inside the machine. Instead of getting up like it did before, the thing's engines fire up, and its legs fall off! Looks like Eggman's taking this fight to the air!

Shadow bolts past me, headed for the generator Eggman broke, as I watch the machine rise into the air. That weak point we were using looks to have been covered up now, and the engines looked pretty well protected when I could actually see them earlier. Just great – now what are we going to do?

I shoot up after him, shots drifting lazily by underneath me because I'm moving far too fast for his machine to track. Looping over the top, I look for any new weak points, but I can't see anything. There's got to be some way to damage this thing!

Shadow comes up behind me, matching my speed to stay at my side for a few seconds. I take the chance he's giving me and tell him what I've seen.

"I can't find any new weak points, Shadow! Our only chance is that beam weapon!"

"Sonic, that thing could destroy a Chaos Emerald!"

We both have to dodge around a storm of shots aimed ahead of us in the hope of catching us, and I dive under the machine to throw Eggman off. Shadow joins me again a few moments later.

"It's only open when it's firing – how are we supposed to hit it?"

He's got a point, but we can't give up! I'm starting to feel the strain again, and I head off for the generator I tricked Eggman into destroying – that's it! I've got it! After a quick circuit of the generator, picking up some much-needed energy, I come up alongside Shadow, who's doing a pretty good job of keeping Eggman's attention.

"I'll distract him, Shadow! You get ready to attack the moment it opens up!"

Shadow nods, and I pull away, reaching what I figure is a fairly safe distance and turning to look at the machine, just hovering there. Like last time, I wave at Eggman, then lean back in the air with my arms folded and tap my foot on thin air.

Well, that got his attention all right! His machine swivels to face me and fires just about everything it's got at me! Just like last time, I dodge most of it, and what little does hit me doesn't exactly do any damage. I hover there until the last possible moment, until I actually see the cover starting to open, Shadow hovering forgotten near it – then I dash to the side, so close to the beam I could swear it almost clipped my foot!

I saw Shadow fire what looked like a Chaos Spear into the thing, but it clearly didn't finish it off – yet. Still dodging shots, I head in. He looks… shocked. Why?

"What happened, Shadow?"

I do a flip to dodge some more weapons fire.

"My attack never reached it – that beam's too powerful. It just tore the energy of the Chaos Spear apart!"

_What?_ Something hits me, knocking me sideways, and I guess that's what I get for not looking around. I move off, doing another circuit of the machine, looking for something, anything else we can use. If Shadow can't get an attack in, how are we going to beat this thing?

There's no other weak point. No matter what I do, where I look, I can't find anything except that weapon. It's got to be there, somehow, we've got to hit that thing! But if it's so powerful, it'll destroy us the moment we come close – or will it? Something stirs up a memory, Shadow telling me how he saw the deep blue Emerald destroyed. It glowed, cracked, and finally exploded, and while it must only have taken a few seconds, it still took time – and for me and Shadow, a few seconds can be more than enough!

"Keep him busy, Shadow!" I don't wait for an answer, speeding away, heading for the surviving generators. If I'm going to pull this off, I'll need all the energy I can get! I slam into the first one, thrown back out by the explosion, lost in a cloud of thick black smoke for a couple of seconds before I right myself and head out of it. Taking out the others the same way, I spin around to get whatever energy I can, spotting Shadow as a silver-gold fireball, looping around Eggman's machine and dodging his shots with all the ease and agility I have myself. But he still can't damage it, and if this idea doesn't work, then I don't know how we're gonna beat this thing.

Finally, I'm done, heading back towards them both. The machine's moving about a fair bit, but compared to me, it's going at a snail's pace, and I take up a position by the beam weapon like I've forgotten it's there, in the space just above it where most of the other guns can't or won't quite aim. I hear a hum from beneath me, and it's all I can do not to look, then the click of the hatch unlocking itself – and I spin around right before the beam fires, one hand out – and then it hits me. Even like this, even with the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds flowing through me, I scream.

I can't move, pinned to the spot, feeling my strength being torn away, feeling like something's trying to tear me into a million pieces, pain racing through my body like nothing I've ever felt before. But I'm here, right in the heart of the beam, and if I've only got a few seconds, then I'd better use them. I won't give up!

Agonisingly slowly, I force myself forwards, stretch my hand out further, feeling blindly for the weapon itself. It feels like forever, even though I can't have been here more than a second, the Emeralds and my body wanting to shatter apart, barely able to keep my thoughts together against it, barely able to hold on. I can't let Eggman get away with what he's done, can't let him keep on ruling the world, and it's only determination keeping me moving, millimetre by millimetre, and nothing exists any more but me and the pain and my target…

My hand touches something, curved metal. I've done it, I'm there! Against the agony tearing me apart, I struggle to focus my energy one last time. Anything Shadow can do, I can do too, I've always known that, and I put everything I've got into a single blast of pure Chaos Energy.

"_Chaos Spear!_"

The beam stops. I look at my hand, stretched out in front of me still, without really realising what it is. The power within me wants to be free, but I think I should hang onto it, even though it would be so much easier to let go. I'm not sure why. There's a light, shining through a thousand cracks in the thing in front of me…

My thoughts catch up with me just as I slow down and the world speeds up. The explosion from Eggman's vehicle sends me flying, tumbling through the air, slamming into goodness knows what, none of it stopping me, holding the power of the Emeralds with sheer willpower and not much else. Then, finally, it's over. I've stopped moving. Finally, I can let go. The Chaos Emeralds leave me, and I fall back, lying on something hard, tilted at a crazy angle. For some reason, I notice the sky above me, a bright, clear blue mostly obscured by a thick cloud of dark smoke. Scrap metal rains down around me, but I don't have the strength to move, so it's just luck that none of it hits me. And then, after a little, it stops

It's over… finally over. I'm exhausted, but I sit up anyway, looking around. That blast devastated this entire area, but I think I recognise some of the buildings on its edge. That's where the others are. I pick myself up and turn in that direction, start to walk that way, too tired even to run.

I haven't got too far when Shadow cuts in front of me, back to normal again, clearly not half as tired as I am, his jet boots keeping him hovering just above the wreckage until he stops and lands on it, facing me.

"Are you all right, Sonic?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tired or not, I still grin at him. We did it! "Let's get back to the others!"

Shadow nods, and jumps down to walk with me. For once, I'm fine with just walking. Everything's okay again…


	65. Epilogue

_-**Epilogue**-_

Tired but undefeated, Sonic and Shadow walked out of the blast area to a surprised and joyful greeting from the other members of the resistance. Everyone was there, even the human children, who'd left the hideout at the sound of the explosion and had been guided by Tikal to where the others stood, waiting. She was there, too, by Knuckles' side, projecting an image of herself as she had once looked hundreds of years before.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted, dashing forward to his friend. Amy spoke at the same time, her voice quieter, but no less happy.

"Shadow, you did it…"

Shadow walked across to her, a slightly strange, unbalanced-looking figure with his left hand and lower arm gone, but Amy barely noticed. At last, at long last their dreams had come true, the hopes they'd barely dared to hold realised before them.

"We did it, Tails!" Sonic's voice rang out across the empty street, strong and confident despite the exhaustion evident in his stance and expression.

"I knew you could, Sonic!"

"Well done, all of you." For a few moments, no-one recognised the speaker, calm and mature, almost serene in the midst of the destruction and death they had faced. Then, almost as one, they turned to face Crossfire, standing with a supportive hand on his younger brother's shoulder. With the power of the Chaos Emerald gone from them, the two squirrels were barely recognisable, only their identically blue eyes hinting at who and what they had been. Crossfire held himself with a graceful poise most people could only envy, the constant fury that had always hardened his expression, been present in every line of his stance, gone completely. In sharp contrast to his older brother, Blaze stood awkwardly, as if he barely knew how to do so. The positive side of the Chaos Emerald's power had aided him for so long, giving him so much unquestioned knowledge, that he no longer even really knew how to walk, his sure and certain knowledge of the best path lost forever. His power had supported him, and he had grown to rely on it, whereas Crossfire had fought the power possessing him up until the very end, and now the result was clear to see.

"I want to apologise to you all for everything I did to hurt you. I… I hope you can forgive me."

Standing with one arm around Shadow, Amy's smile broadened slightly, and she spoke for the resistance as a whole when she replied.

"It wasn't you doing that, Crossfire. It was the Chaos Emerald inside you… you did well to hold it back as much as you did."

Beside Sonic, Tails nodded. He knew better than most of them the sheer power of the Chaos Emeralds. Even though it must have been mostly dormant within the squirrels at first, Tails was surprised Crossfire had been able to withstand it.

Crossfire smiled back, an expression none of them had ever seen before. "Thank you, Amy." He paused, uncertain, glancing towards the rubble. Somewhere beneath it lay Chess' body, wherever Blaze had told Shadow to set her down. With the destruction of the surrounding buildings, it was unlikely they'd ever find her. "…There's something else I want to say." Another pause, shorter than the first, but still noticeable. "I'm not sure who I am any more. I'm not the person I used to be." He shook his head, looking down. "I know we need to rebuild, but I don't think I can help you, not like this. I have to understand who I've become." Again, he paused, glancing in the direction of the ruins once more. "I'd like to take my brother and look for Abigail's parents. She believed they were still alive, and if they are, they deserve to know what happened."

"Abigail?" Rouge asked.

"Chess," Tails replied absently. Chess hadn't used her real name much, although he did remember her pestering Crossfire to tell her his more than once. Everyone in the resistance had known it, like they knew Tails', but nobody used it.

Amy nodded, understanding. She knew as well as the others that Chess' parents were almost certainly long dead, quite a bit closer to the epicentre of the blast that destroyed her home than Chess herself had been, but only Crossfire had ever tried to disillusion her. His search for her family would probably never end until he chose to stop… but perhaps that was what he wanted.

"I understand, Crossfire."

Sonic looked around. This was probably the last time he'd see most of this mismatched group together. With Crossfire leaving and taking Blaze with him, and Knuckles, Tikal, and Rouge almost certainly returning to Angel Island with the Master Emerald, that left only Tails, Shadow and Amy, and the human children, Trick and Gaze.

_Shadow and Amy, eh? Who'd have thought?_ It was certainly just about the last thing he'd have expected… but then, she'd changed since he knew her, grown into someone very different – and she wasn't the only one. Shadow was different, too, if not as much, and even Tails had changed in some ways.

"We're leaving, too," Knuckles said bluntly. "The Master Emerald must be returned to Angel Island." After so long spent away from his home, running and hiding and running again, the Echidna wanted nothing more than to return to his peaceful life on his island. Now that that chance had finally come, he had no intention of waiting any longer than he had to.

"What about you, Sonic? What will you do?" Amy asked.

"Oh," Sonic said, grinning, "I'll be around."

Tails smiled. Sonic hadn't changed at all…

* * *

**The End**

* * *

_Credits and Acknowledgements_

Only Yesterday was inspired by the Blind Guardian song "I'm Alive". Sonic and all related characters are © SEGA, and are used without permission. I don't own any of them, don't have anything to do with SEGA, and don't make any money out of this.

Blaze, Crossfire, Chess, Trick and Gaze, and the Only Yesterday storyline are all my own invention, and any resemblance to anyone alive, dead, or fictional, or to any other story, is purely a coincidence. Honest.

_Many thanks to:_  
Sparky Lurkdragon, best friend, beta-reader, and fellow author. Read her awesome Ecco stuff!  
All my reviewers, without whose encouragement I would almost certainly have never finished writing this!  
My family, for being generally awesome.  
SEGA, for the Sonic the Hedgehog series.  
Blind Guardian, for the inspiration behind this story.

* * *

Thank you once again for reading and reviewing! I hope you've all enjoyed reading the story as much as I have writing it.  
Should any of you fanfic writers want to base a story on Only Yesterday and/or its original characters, then by all means, go ahead! This is fanfiction, after all – just please, remember to credit me, and please let me know so I can read it! I'd be happy to beta-read if asked, too! 

_Ardil the Traveller_


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